600 charged as ‘significant sentences’ sought

POLICE in London said they have charged almost 600 people with violence, disorder and looting over deadly riots in Britain’s capital, as the city’s mayor said Londoners wanted to see “significant sentences” handed out to the guilty.

Across the country, more than 1,700 people have been arrested. Courts in London, Birmingham and Manchester stayed open through a second night to deal with hundreds of alleged offenders, and hundreds of extra police remained on the streets to deter violence as the weekend approached.

Hundreds of stores were looted, buildings were set ablaze and five people died amid the mayhem that broke out last Saturday in London and spread over four nights across England.

Victims include three men in Birmingham run down by a car as they defended their neighbourhood. Police are questioning three suspects on suspicion of murder.

And detectives opened a murder inquiry after a 68-year-old a man found in a London street after confronting rioters died of his injuries late on Thursday. A 22-year-old man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of murder.

A man was found with gunshot wounds to the head in south London amid riots on Monday and later died.

The alleged looters and vandals included an 11-year-old boy, a teenage ballerina, a university English student and Natasha Reid, a 24-year-old graduate who admitted stealing a TV from a looted electronics store. Her lawyer said she had turned herself in because she could not sleep for guilt.

Another was Chelsea Ives, an 18-year-old chosen as a volunteer ambassador for next year’s Olympic Games. She is accused of burglary, violent disorder and throwing bricks at a police car.

Newspapers reported that Ives was charged after her parents saw her rioting on TV and turned her in.