London riots: Who are the rioters?

London: The city’s jail cells and courts are filled to capacity after three days of riots that left one man dead in Croydon and high streets across the capital filled with bricks, broken glass and burned out buildings.

Television pictures, grainy CCTV images and even video filmed by the rioters themselves are giving everyone a glimpse of the rioters. The Metropolitan Police have started using posted images on photo sharing site Flickr to help them identify “those who have committed violent and criminal acts”. Other unofficial sites, such as a Catch a Looter, have sprung up online, collecting images of suspected thieves and asking the public if they know who they are.

Many are youths wearing ‘hoodies’, their faces barely visible and sometimes totally covered with balaclavas or scarves. However, they are not the only people engaged in the looting, vandalism and running streets battles with police.

Some courts were in session around the clock to try to handle the overwhelming number of cases. As those arrested made their way through the legal system, we’re beginning to see not only disaffected, poor youth that many expected, but also older Londoners, with jobs and futures now imperilled by what even they admit were moments of madness. It’s a much broader mix of ages and backgrounds than you might imagine by simply looking at the pictures on television.

Journalist Dave Lee gives an idea of the different strata of London society that have taken part in the riots:

Next man in dock at Westminster Mags is a 2nd year law student. What’s going on here?!

The Guardian highlighted the case of Alexis Bailey , 31, a mentor at the Stockwell primary school in Lambeth. He was arrested in an electronics store in Croydon on Monday night. He pleaded guilty to burglary with intent to steal.

Some looters hadn’t even yet made it to their restive teens. The Telegraph looked at the case of an 11-year-old boy from Romford in East London , who couldn’t be named because of his age. Police said that he was the youngest rioter to have been arrested.

Police witnessed the boy take a rubbish bin worth £50 from a Debenham’s department store. The store’s windows has already been smashed in, damage worth an estimated £6000, but the boy hadn’t been seen breaking the windows so was only charged for the theft of the bin.

The Telegraph looked at a number of cases in Camberwell Green Magistrates Court in south London, many of those arrested for riots in Brixton:

One was a man who was about to join the army while others included a youth worker and a forklift truck driver.

The Telegraph mentioned the case of 20-year-old Banye Kanon, a student at Essex University. He was one of several people in front of the court standing accused of looting at an electronics store in Brixton.

Not all of those arrested for violence or looting were young. Sky News covered the cases at the magistrates court in Croydon , which included a 41-year-old who pleaded guilty to stealing a bottle of wine from a “smashed up” convenience store.

Rioters had been defiant on the streets, taunting the police to drive them from ’their’ streets. Defiance melted away in the dock. Sky reported:

Nathan Dempster, an 18-year-old college student of Onslow Road, Croydon, sobbed in front of his mother and grandmother when he was told he would spend another week behind bars after being accused of stealing aftershave from House of Fraser in Croydon.

Magistrates are referring many of the cases to higher courts because they believe their powers of punishment are not sufficient. Magistrates courts can only levy sentences of six months, but crown courts can impose sentences of up to 10 years.

Veteran court reporters were surprised by the uncompromising sentences handed down especially for some of the relatively minor crimes committed and the circumstances of some of those arrested.

Lia Hervey of Sky News tweeted about the case of James Best, 39 , who was charged for stealing biscuits and cakes from a bakery. Writing on the Sky website, she wrote that he has mental health issues so serious that he has been in a psychiatric hospital for them and has been homeless. Continuing on Twitter , she said:

Defence lawyer asked judge to separate him from events of last few days, but the judge said in the current climate he would not grant bail. Best was committed to crown court for sentence.

Watch video as David Cameron called the young rioters ‘a sick society’ and gave the go ahead for use of water cannons on them.