75% of rioters had records

THREE-QUARTERS of all rioters had a criminal record, with two thirds of these never having been to jail despite having a slew of previous offences, figures showed yesterday.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said the statistics confirmed that “existing criminals were on the rampage” last month.

A quarter of those charged over the violence and looting that swept through English cities last month had committed more than 10 previous offences, with one in 20 having more than 50, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures showed. But only a third of those who had committed previous offences had ever been in jail.

The details were published as Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said the middle-classes had ignored the plight of people living on run-down council estates for years and paid the price when the inner city “came to call” in last month’s violence.

The MoJ analysis showed that the three in four people involved in the riots who had at least one previous offence had committed an average of 15, including nine serious indictable crimes.