A jailed anti-immigration rioter who shouted racist abuse at police and called asylum seekers “child killers” has died in prison.
Peter Lynch, 61, died on Saturday night at HMP Moorland, near Doncaster, south Yorkshire, the prison service confirmed.
He was serving a prison sentence of two years and eight months after being jailed in August. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) is carrying out an independent investigation into his death.
Lynch, who had diabetes, thyroid problems and angina, and recently suffered a heart attack, was jailed for shouting at police outside a hotel in Rotherham housing asylum seekers.
The grandfather, described as a conspiracy theorist, went to the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers on August 4 with a sign accusing police officers, MPs, NASA and the Environment Agency of being “corrupt”. .
During his Aug. 22 sentencing, Lynch, who was called a “family man,” pleaded guilty to violent disorder after shouting “racist and provocative comments” toward police and calling asylum seekers “child killers.”
Peter Lynch, 61, died on Saturday at HMP Moorland, near Doncaster, south Yorkshire, where he was serving a prison sentence of two years and eight months.
The grandfather went to the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers on August 4 with a sign accusing police officers, MPs and the media of being “corrupt”.
A prison service spokesperson said: “HMP Moorland prisoner Peter Lynch died on October 19, 2024. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”
The Prosecutor’s Office told MailOnline: ‘The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman is carrying out an independent investigation into the death of Peter Lynch which occurred on 19 October 2024 at HMP Moorland.
“We offer our condolences to his friends and family.”
At Lynch’s sentencing hearing it was said that he was a “full participant” in the riot and was filmed calling officers “scum” after shouting, “You’re protecting people who are killing our children and raping them.”
When asked by Judge Jeremy Richardson KC about the meaning of the banner he was holding, Ian West, defending, said: “It is a general conspiracy theory against any person and any form of authority.” This was a little off topic from what was going on that day.
Judge Richardson told him: “You did not attack any police officer, so far as could be detected, but what you did was encourage by your conduct others to behave violently and you were part of this mob.”
The father of four children and grandfather of three was described by the judge as a “shameful example of a grandfather,” reported the guardian.
“No doubt you were trying to expedite the situation as best you could,” Judge Richardson added.
More than 50 police officers were injured as a result of riots in Rotherham on August 4, which saw windows smashed and asylum seekers feared for their lives.
Violent thugs attempted to burn down the hotel supposedly housing asylum seekers and blocked emergency exits in Rotherham on August 4.
A police dog handler during the far-right demonstration outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham
West told the court that Lynch, of Wath-upon-Dearne, Rotherham, had been married for 36 years, had four adult children and three grandchildren.
He worked in the packaging industry but recently became unemployed, the attorney said.
Lynch was one of more than 50 men who have been jailed at Sheffield Crown Court following the Rotherham riots, which left 64 police officers injured, as well as four dogs and a horse.
Some 64 police officers were injured as a result of the riot, as well as four dogs and a horse, where windows were smashed and asylum seekers feared for their lives as the mob, fueled by far-right rhetoric online, attempted to raid the hotel.
Some scrawled aggressive graffiti on their walls, writing “scum” and “get out of England”, while others set fire to bins and threw them at the hotel’s windows.
The unrest was fueled when misinformation about the Southport stabbing suspect circulated online, falsely claiming he was a Muslim asylum seeker and giving a false name.
It was shared by several high-profile far-right figures online and by a Russian-affiliated “news” website.
Lynch would have been eligible for the early release plan recently unveiled by Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
The plan reduces the proportion of the sentence that most criminals must serve behind bars from 50 to 40 percent.
It does not apply to some prisoners, including those convicted of sexual crimes, domestic abuse or terrorism, or to violent offenders serving sentences of more than four years.