London Riots: 16-Year-Old Charged With Murder
Emerging from the rubble of last week’s London riots is new information on those responsible for the violent rioting and looting that shook up Britain’s most famous city and resulted in five deaths.
One such person happens to be a 16-year-old boy who is being charged with the murder of 68-year-old retiree Richard Manning Bowes.
Bowes died Thursday after being assaulted last Monday in the west side of London in Ealing. Bowes struggled in the hospital for his life for three days before the attack ultimately claimed his life. He died of head injuries.
The 16-year-old suspect is scheduled to appear in a London youth court today.
The riots have not only stunned British society, they have forced a divide between political parties to surface about why the riots happened, and what should be done to deal with the future destructive conflicts.
The current government of David Cameron of the U.K. Conservative Party, has announced plans to enforce better training regulations for police officers and will work to establish stronger powers to face the ushering in of a new age where violent protests, riots, and street disturbances will inherently become more likely and prevalent.
Home Secretary Theresa May has acknowledged this reality and has said, “We will make sure the police have the powers they need – including wider powers to impose curfews.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron is standing up to the emerging challenge of street chaos arguing that the government must face head-on the “slow motion moral collapse” in the U.K.
Cameron detailed a series of measures he intends to take to fix the ills of the “broken society” that include working to build stronger families and impose tougher discipline across country schools.
Cameron called the riots a “wake up call” for the country and argued that moral decline and social ills do not solely permeate from the poorest members of British society.
However, Cameron's political opponent Ed Miliband of the British Labour Party argued that, "Day by day the prime minister has revealed himself to be reaching for shallow and superficial answers."
The rioting began on Saturday August 6th and was some of the worst the city had seen in years. Thousands have been arrested in relation to the riots.
The rioting was sparked by the shooting of a man in the north London suburb of Tottenham that police described as a “gangster.”