A policeman sprayed gunfire at wounded, unarmed people and repeatedly stamped on a dying man on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina, a former officer told a court.

The chairman of online bookie Sportingbet continued to be held in the United States today after his arrest under laws covering “gambling by computer”.

New Orleans descended into anarchy as corpses lay abandoned in the streets, fights and fires broke out, police officers turned in their badges and the governor declared war on looters who have made the city a menacing landscape of disorder and fear.