Shocking moment father takes his toddler to full-scale Rotherham riot

This is the astonishing sight of a father calmly walking past riot police with his toddler son in his arms during a full-scale riot.

Mason Reddy, 24, was no innocent bystander unwittingly caught up in the scenes of violence outside the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, last month.

Despite taking the innocent little boy along with him, Reddy played his part in the sickening violence, a court was told.

There were scenes of chaos which lasted for hours as the mob set fire to and attacked the hotel where asylum seekers were living.

Reddy, who was identified for his role in the disorder by the fact that he was wearing odd shoes and carrying a toddler in his arms, admitted violent disorder and was jailed for three years at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday.

The 24-year-old was seen throwing bricks and rocks at the hotel, apparently aiming at the windows, while shouting threats.

He was also witnessed throwing missiles at officers, hitting out at riot shields and cheering rioters who were lighting a fire.

A journalist also heard Reddy shouting a racial slur while carrying a boy of around two years old in his arms, the court heard.

Five police officers identified Reddy, from Barnsley, by his ‘distinctive clothing,’ odd shoes and the fact that he had a child and pram with him.

The video clip issued by South Yorkshire Police shows just how oblivious Reddy was to the danger he put the little boy in.

He is seen strolling a few feet from a line of riot police with the mob of far-right protestors in the background.

In mitigation, the court heard Reddy, who has no previous convictions, had taken his son with him as he was intending to protest peacefully.

In another case at the same court, a man whose teenage son has already been jailed for disorder was also sent to prison.

Stephen Roughley, 44, was jailed for two years and eight months - more than a month after his son Kenzie Roughley, 18, became the first person to be sentenced for the violent disorder in Rotherham on August 4.

Sheffield Crown Court heard Roughley, from Pontefract, initiated chants of ‘get them out’ and made ‘disparaging remarks of a sexual nature to police officers’ before throwing a missile at a police van.

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Kenzie Roughley was sentenced last month to two years and four months in a young offender institution after being filmed punching and kicking a South Yorkshire Police CCTV van.

Both pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

The riot in Rotherham left 64 officers, three police dogs and a horse injured. There were 240 asylum seekers in the hotel, which protesters tried to set on fire, and courts have heard how staff barricaded themselves in the kitchen with freezers, fearing they would die.

About 50 men have so far been jailed for their parts in the Rotherham disorder.

A South Yorkshire Police said: 'Mason Reddy was seen launching sections of wood fencing towards officers in the cordon. 

'Officers at the scene reported seeing the 24-year-old with a small child in the pram during the large-scale violent disorder.

'Reddy’s decision to wear a jacket with the name of his Sunday league football team on ultimately led to him being caught. 

'The distinctive jacket led to several officers identifying Reddy, leading to his arrest on 22 August. 

'He was charged with violent disorder and pleaded guilty to the offence.

'Mason Reddy, of Victoria Street, Goldthorpe, was jailed for three years.'