16 hours ago
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A woman has been jailed for providing a false alibi for a 15-year-old boy who took part in rioting outside a hotel housing asylum seekers.
Kaylee Cunningham, 36, told officers the boy was at her house when he was actually part of a group throwing rocks and wood at riot police outside the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Manvers, Rotherham, on 4 August last year.
Sheffield Crown Court heard the boy was arrested but later released by police after Cunningham provided him with the alibi.
Cunningham, of Kendray, Barnsley, was jailed for 12 months on Thursday after admitting perverting the course of justice at a previous hearing.
Police later examined the teenager's phone and found he had filmed himself taking part in the disorder.
Judge Jeremy Richardson KC rejected her claim that she had been pressured into lying by the boy's father and noted that police had expressly warned her about the dangers of making a false statement.
Judge Richardson told Cunningham: "You have been very, very foolish and, I'm afraid, you have to be punished."
"It was a pernicious act to do as you did, and you did it entirely wilfully.
"Courts do not like liars and you were a liar."
The court heard the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was given a 12-month referral order after admitting violent disorder at Sheffield Youth Court.
More than 70 people have been jailed at Sheffield Crown Court for their roles in the Rotherham disorder, which left 64 police officers, three horses and a dog injured.
More than 200 asylum seekers and staff were trapped in the building during the unrest, with some rioters breaking into the building.
