Anti-migrant marcher admits PETROL-BOMBING hotel hosting them after fire dog sniffed out his glove

Published 29 October 2026, 14:59

• Mark Neville hurled a flaming bottle over the hotel gate before guards doused the blaze
• Simba, a nine-year-old London Fire Brigade springer spaniel, found his dumped glove in a bin, carrying Neville's DNA
• Detective Chief Inspector Paul Ridley says the attack was 'designed to terrify' and 'could have caused horrific injuries'

A man who had marched outside a migrant hotel pleaded guilty to petrol-bombing it, caught after a forensic fire dog sniffed out a glove he had thrown in a bin nearby.

Mark Neville, 65, of Pear Tree Street, Islington, admitted the attack at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 28 October.

He threw a flaming bottle over a temporary gate and toward the entrance of a hotel in Dingley Road, Islington, at around 10:53pm on 24 September 2025.

Security guards put the fire out quickly and nobody was injured, according to the Met Police.

CCTV captured a masked man dressed entirely in black lighting the petrol bomb and hurling it over the gate.

In the hours that followed, detectives reviewed hundreds of hours of footage and secured a clear image of the suspect walking to and from the scene.

Local residents identified Neville from that image.

Specialist forensic teams then matched his DNA to glass fragments from the petrol bomb itself.

Neville had also tried to dump a glove in a nearby bin — but Simba, a nine-year-old springer spaniel belonging to London Fire Brigade's forensic fire dog unit, found it.

The glove also carried his DNA.

Neville was arrested within 48 hours of the attack, on 26 September 2025, and on that same day was charged with offences that included arson with intent to endanger life, criminal damage, and additional counts.

Despite the weight of evidence against him, Neville initially denied any involvement.

He told officers that he had gone to see a friend who had received a dementia diagnosis.

He eventually admitted he was the person shown in the CCTV footage, then switched to a "no comment" interview.

Searches of his flat uncovered internet searches relating to far-right activism and asylum seekers, as well as messages about migration.

In his police interview, Neville said friends would routinely share articles about immigration with him and that he had taken part in demonstrations on the issue — among them one staged outside the very hotel he attacked.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Ridley, who led the investigation, said Neville "fire-bombed a hotel in an attack that was designed to terrify residents and the local community" and that his actions "could easily have caused horrific injuries."

Ridley added that after his arrest Neville "tried to deny his guilt, as officers uncovered overwhelming proof that he was motivated by hate," and pledged that the Met would "relentlessly pursue those who seek to cause fear and harm."

Neville's convictions included attempted arson with recklessness as to whether life would be endangered, carrying a bladed article, and having a prohibited weapon — specifically a stun gun — on private premises.