SIXTEEN YOUTHS and men involved in last year’s London riots, when they terrorised dinners in a Notting Hill restaurant, were jailed for up to nine years yesterday.
The group, aged between 16 and 24, are members of three north London gangs who put aside their often-lethal rivalries to co-operate in the organised looting that marked the three days of riots.
In Notting Hill, they forced up to 40 diners to lie on the floor before stripping them of jewellery, cash and mobile telephones.
One woman had her wedding ring pulled from her fingers.
Sentencing the men, Judge Usha Karu declared: “It is a year today that you were involved in the mayhem and mob criminality which caused disturbances to [the] law-abiding public.”
One year on from the images of arson, looting and fire-bombings, the judge said the Olympics had put forward the other face of London, demonstrating that “excellence” can be achieved in life.
The gangs had behaved “like a pack of hounds” when they robbed a convenience shop owned by Mohammed Haroon, who was beaten over the head with a bottle of champagne.
One of the men became involved in the riots just five days after he had been released from prison after serving a five-year sentence for a string of robberies.
The rioters attacked a taxi and a pizza-delivery driver and rained missiles on police. Saying that he had called desperately for support, one officer said he had “never been so scared in my life”.
Gyasi Skinner (20), was jailed for nine years and two months while 19-year-old Kalem Hinds received a nine-year sentence for the attack on the shopkeeper.
Karl Jensen (24) was brought to the ground and held until police arrived by TV presenter and historian Dan Snow, who had spotted him looting a shoe shop on Portobello Road.
Jailed for three years, Jensen whistled for joy when he heard his sentence because it meant he would be released in six months, since he has been held on remand for the last year.
Responding to the sentences, Alison Saunders, chief crown prosecutor for London, said those convicted had been involved in “one of the most overt campaigns” of the riots.
“This was not a chance meeting of youths bent on causing disorder, but was, to a degree, a planned campaign between youths known to each other through local gangs,” she said.
So far, 2,000 people have been prosecuted for their actions.
Prosecutions, she said, would continue for as long as police could “identify and arrest suspects”.
