Riot suspects find unwanted fame on giant street screen

Faces of scores of riot suspects are being shown on a giant screen in one of the shopping streets worst hit when looters devastated London.

The pictures flash up throughout the day in Powis Street, Woolwich, and police today revealed that one man handed himself in within hours of seeing his face on display and was arrested on suspicion of looting and arson.

Meanwhile, Lewisham is planning to hire mobile advertising lorries to screen images of looting suspects, and police could also post their faces on huge screens outside football grounds on match days. Images of 195 suspects have already been posted by police on the Flickr website.

Boris Johnson, visiting Woolwich today, praised the big-screen scheme and the police response as "impressive". Up to 60 shops were badly damaged locally, including a number burned to the ground, when a 150-strong mob struck.

The Mayor said: "Only a fraction of the CCTV has yet been gone through. We want to see all the perpetrators brought to justice."

Greenwich's Met borough commander Richard Wood said: "We have had a lot of information from this and more people will be caught because of it. It shows people are furious this happened in their area. It is a sense of shock, outrage and disgust."

Images of 45 suspects are continually shown but a further 40 pictures will go up today and tomorrow, along with CCTV video footage. Police sources said they expect to make more arrests for arson today. So far the Met has arrested nearly 2,000 people in connection with the disorder and a total of 1,087 people have been charged.

A 70-year-old man, the oldest person held, was cautioned for theft from a shop in Ealing.
The Ministry of Justice today said 59 offenders, including seven juveniles, have been convicted so far in London.

A further 531 suspects are remanded in custody, while 213 are on bail awaiting prosecution.