Cameron vows to compensate riot victims

BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron, addressing an emergency session of the House of Commons, promised the Government would pay to compensate the victims of the disorder while retaining a reinforced police presence in London.

In a wide-ranging statement, he said ministers were keeping the sentencing powers of the courts under “constant review” and pledged to tackle the gang culture, which lay behind much of the violence, as a “national priority”.

He said officials were also considering whether they could stop people plotting disorder via social media websites and he opened up the prospect that the Army could take on some policing tasks to free up more officers for the front line.

However, during almost three hours answering MPs’ questions, he fended off repeated Labour demands to rethink planned cuts to police budgets, insisting that they would not affect the numbers of officers on the streets.

As Mr Cameron was speaking at Westminster, police in Nottingham disclosed that an 11-year-old girl was among those who had been charged with criminal damage after she was caught with a group of youths smashing store windows in the city.

And the Metropolitan Police said roughly half of the 240 people who have appeared in court so far charged with being involved in the riots in London are under the age of 18.

In Birmingham, West Midlands Chief Constable Chris Sims paid tribute to the father of one of three men run down and killed as they were guarding shops from looters. He said that Tariq Jahan’s “powerful and generous” appeal for calm had been “decisive” in preventing a renewed outbreak of violence and tension between communities in the city.

In London, detectives said the investigation into the attack on a 68-year-old man who tried to stamp out a fire during riots in Ealing on Monday could turn into a murder probe as he lay critically ill in hospital.

Addressing a sombre House following the first night of relative peace across the country since Saturday night, Mr Cameron said “It is criminality pure and simple. And there is absolutely no excuse for it.”

With the total number of arrests across the country now exceeding 1,200, the Prime Minister pledged the perpetrators of the violence would be tracked down, charged, and punished.

In a clear message to the courts – after police said they were “disappointed” at some of the sentences being handed down – he said anyone charged with rioting should be remanded in custody and anyone convicted should expect to go to jail.

While Mr Cameron praised the “incredible bravery” of individual officers in confronting lawbreaking “on a scale not seen for decades”, he criticised the initial police tactics, saying “far too few” officers had been deployed.

The additional officers deployed to London – taking the total numbers on the streets of the capital to almost 16,000 – would now remain during the weekend.

Gang injunctions — currently being piloted in some areas — are also being extended to the whole country, covering juveniles as well as adults, he said, and he urged councils to use existing powers to evict offenders from social housing.

With the London Olympics a year away, he said it was vital the country demonstrated it was getting to grips with the problems.