Grandad, 61, dies in prison after being jailed for violent disorder during summer riots
Peter Lynch was jailed earlier this year
South Yorkshire Police
A rioter who was jailed for violent disorder and abusing police over the summer has died in prison.
Prison sources told The Telegraph that Peter Lynch is believed to have taken his own life on Saturday night at HMP Moorland near Doncaster in south Yorkshire.
The 61-year old grandfather was jailed for two years and eight months on August 22 after pleading guilty to violent disorder in a hearing at Sheffield Crown Court.
The court was told Lynch went to the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on August 4 with a placard which called police officers, MPs and the media "corrupt."
Peter Lynch was jailed earlier this year
South Yorkshire Police
An investigation has been launched by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. A prison service spokesman said: “HMP Moorland prisoner Peter Lynch died on Oct 19 2024. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate."
At the sentencing hearing earlier this year, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC said Lynch shouted "racist and provocative remarks" towards officers and called asylum seekers in the hotel "child killers."
Body-worn camera footage was shown to the court of him screaming "you are protecting people who are killing our kids and raping them" at officers with riot shields.
Lynch, of Burman Road, Wath-upon-Dearne, was a “full participant” in the disorder, the court was told. "You were unquestionably endeavouring to rev up the situation the best you could," the Recorder added.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Glass smashed at the West Melton Hotel
PAIt comes as more than 1,000 extra prisoners are set to be freed early this week as the Government puts the latest stage of its plan to ease jail overcrowding into action.
On Tuesday, around 1,100 inmates will be released as the policy is expanded to those serving sentences of five years or more. It follows the first release of around 1,700 prisoners from jails across England and Wales on September 10.
This came after Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans in July to cut temporarily the proportion of sentences inmates must serve behind bars from 50 per cent to 40per cent as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said overcrowding had pushed jails to the "point of collapse."
A steady stream of eligible prisoners have been leaving jails under the changes ever since. The policy is expected to be reviewed within 18 months.
Ashley Williams who was involved in disorder in the wake of the Southport stabbings
Handout via PA
Last month, bricklayer Ashley Williams who went into the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham in August and threw a fire extinguisher and a chair at police, has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
More than 200 asylum seekers took shelter upstairs and staff barricaded themselves into the kitchen.
The footage was shown at Sheffield Crown Court along with further clips which showed him emerging from the building, wearing very distinctive "neon green" shorts and a t-shirt, and throwing the fire extinguisher at a line of police officers with riot shields who were pinned against a wall.
Williams, of Lowfield Walk, Denaby Main, South Yorkshire, then re-joined the large crowd which was screaming at the officers and throwing missiles before emerging again to throw a chair at the line of shields.
James Burley, defending, said his client came from a "stable, loving home" and is "adamant there is no issue of racist intent." He said Williams, who admitted violent disorder at an earlier hearing, has ADHD and has recently also been diagnosed with autism.
Judge Sarah Wright acknowledged that the defendant "struggled with consequential thinking" and had no previous convictions. But she said he played a willing role in the violence.
You may like
