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Amelia Gentleman speaks to young people for whom some heady days of August have cast a shadow

Last week, Danielle Cal was sentenced to 10 months in prison for stealing a moment with his left foot two coaches during the riots in Wolverhampton. As he was sentenced, his mother Sharon started shouting to the judge to the public gallery: "You destroy the life of an innocent child ... How can we do this? "As she screamed, her daughter began to cry, and Sharon was quickly out of the room by security staff.

That night, waiting to know that the prison had been sent to Danielle, Sharon said that he thought his daughter could not be coping well with prison. "It's an experience harmful. It will never be able to erase from his mind. It should not have that experience. It is a criminal. It is very unfair the way it was handled. It is so bad. "

Now that we are deep into November, the heat and chaos of the summer feels like a distant memory, but for families of young people trapped in the riots, the events of August anarchic few days have melted long shadows.

For those who have never had trouble with the police before, and seem to have had a very short-lived involvement, the severity of the treatment they received came as a surprise. The time spent in courtrooms, where judges are still just beginning to go the consequences of these events, reveals how many lives have been ruined in an instant simply by deciding to go out to see what was happening on the street. Time spent on the family shows how the arrest of a person can have devastating consequences for the rest of the family.

Judges justify the sanctions more serious than usual, as we continue to give those guilty of crimes related disorders, citing its right to impose more severe penalties to deter. In this climate that two young men who created a Facebook page to promote a revolt (which have never been and never actually took place) were sentenced to four years in prison and a young mother of two - it is went to sleep -. was sentenced to five months to accept a pair of shorts, sacked by a friend (though was later released on appeal)

Immediately after the riots, the political signals are very clear. David Cameron said it was important that the judges sent a "strong message". Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge defending some of the most serious decisions, stating: "Given the general pallor of what is happening in the country, these statements had to be significantly higher." The judges concluded that the penalties should reflect the mood of public anger.

calluses

For people like Danielle, which has led to particular judgments, it is difficult to see what is happening in more than a waste of time and taxpayers' money

Two weeks before she goes to prison, I met with her and her mother, a caregiver working with the elderly at home in a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of Wolverhampton.

Danielle, 19, dressed in the fashion and has blonde hair and bright, but it is so depressed that it is rarely discussed beyond monosyllables. Gradually, he said they were shopping in the afternoon at the start of Tuesday, August 9, buying clothes to celebrate the 18th anniversary of his cousin of the week (he bought a pair of pajamas and a robe). After an hour, his mother had to go home and business continuity is Danielle.

Sharon

relaxed on his departure, because no one expected the riots to break there, but soon left, Danielle watched, petrified, as groups of hooded youths arrived at the center of the city and began to throw through the windows of shops in the street. When the police tried to clear the main square, the crowd was in a side street and somehow they were swept into the fray.

As he tries to explain why people were attracted to the anarchy of the government-funded research on the motivations of young troublemakers points to the "party atmosphere, adrenaline and threshing. " Danielle said she was concerned about the violence and called his mother in tears to tell him what was happening in the city. "I've never seen anything like this before," he said. "It was horrible."

But a picture of her appeared in the local newspaper the next day, showing its position, apparently smiling in a crowd of masked men dressed in summer bright, distinctive and recognizable instant of time with blond hair and waving his hands around -. in ski gloves

was a strange decision to wear ski gloves, he said. He said a friend who had met by chance picked them up from the pile of loot that were scattered along the sidewalk and gave them to her, just wasting time, as if trying to hide their fingerprints may also have thought that covering your face. "Can not identify anyone, because everyone on the bells," he said. She went to the police when he was in the newspaper to tell them he had been there but was not involved in the violence.

The police response was reassuring. She said she said. "You can see that I have done nothing wrong ... will contact CID on a couple of weeks because we have more important things to do"

Tonight at 3:00, his house was searched by a dozen riot police, who searched the house, he found nothing and arrested her. She was charged with three counts of theft of jewelry local (or £ 50 000 worth of goods were stolen from that day), a phone shop and a clothing store, and sent to prison.

Two of the charges against him were later dropped (on closer inspection of CCTV footage, seen attacking the jewels of the blonde woman was not Danielle), but has found that it had entered a clothing store, which had already been largely looted and left 10 seconds later with the odd couple of trainers, after a moment of shoes left outside the store, went to the station Road and made its way so I was back in time for a change in the pizzeria where he worked from time to time.

His defense attorney tried to explain their role in the violent disruption was minimal, and said, "She did not play an important role in the violence and not to break his way into the store. "But the judge said the sentence of 10 months was shorter than I could give, and concludes:" The actions of criminals like you have contributed collectively and caused thousands of pounds of losses. "

clear that Danielle behaved stupidly, but the consequences now unfolding seems equally stupid. The cost to the taxpayer works 10 months of imprisonment of at least £ 40 000, and the cost of their education and career is even greater. She has 11 GCSEs and BTEC well, and this fall, he had thought of returning to college to study mathematics sixth, waiting to board examinations to join the RAF in January. In late August, the school said was not welcome because of the bad publicity. Her mother assumed that imprisonment has ruined his chances of joining the RAF and concerns about long-term consequences of having a criminal record. Before being sentenced, Danielle has been prescribed sleeping pills and received advice from major depression had happened. The neighbors of his quiet street stopped to talk to the family.

When she describes the six days he spent in prison before he was released on bail in August, he said, recalling his fear of meeting women imprisoned for murder and attempted GBH, surprise offered drugs.

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, refers to how the decisions were "on ramp" and questions the logic behind the statement of deterrence and utility to send young people without prison, previous convictions.

Approximately three quarters of young people who are sentenced to less than a year will reoffend. "The experience of prison is itself criminogenic," said Neilson. "You spent time with other people who have committed crimes that are taken far from positive factors that prevent them from being employed -. criminal, family - and after spending time in prison is likely to be more difficult to get jobs to work. It is an environment that makes the strain of his mental health, and we know that people go to jail without addiction and come out with a drug addiction. "

calluses Sharon can not understand why her daughter is 10 months in which, as it includes other young people - the "plasma TVs really stolen and store boxes" - escaped . "Ten months to gather the coaches did not even take home? He was just being a teenager curious. I am angry against the system of justice. I am angry against the prime minister, "he said wearily, rather than anger." I talk to David Cameron to tell him to come to some of these cases to court and see what these children are doomed, children, no criminal record. " She says she will appeal.

In London, Maria Ramirez (real name) is also satisfied with the treatment received by his son 18 years received from the hands of the police, but if the consequences of their involvement in riots complicate life for all the family. Five days after being arrested (empty handed) in Currys and looted in Clapham, finally got to see his son in jail Feltham and institutionalization of children. This was his first experience of being in a prison, as it was for him, and she was so shocked to see him there, he collapsed outside the visiting room to leave the building.

"I love my son very much and see your child in these circumstances ... I tried to be strong, I do not want to see me as weak, Then I fainted, "he said.

When he arrived back at his apartment in Wandsworth in the afternoon, he found an eviction notice by the Council. In the days that followed the riots, a number of councils said they would try to evict tenants for the advice of your property if someone who lives there was found guilty of involvement in Riots. It was at the height of public outrage and government ministers have also been floating the idea of ??reducing the subsidies of the rioters. "

Mary was the first person to be served with a deportation order in relation to the riots, and his case has triggered an explosion of fury, human rights activists and politicians, who said that was against the basic principle of justice. instead of taking individual responsibility, the family received a collective punishment

Rental conditions

have been raped are extremely broad, and pointed out the letter, which explains why the housing authority tries to throw his work, among other things, a clause stating "You, your guests, friends, relatives, visitors and anyone else who lives in the property should not ... do anything that interferes with the peace, comfort or convenience of other people living in the District of Wandsworth and / or region. "

"What about people throwing fireworks out the window?" Mary says that when he found in his apartment on a rainy afternoon, just days after Bonfire Night. "If so, all the apartments here, may be empty."

Wandsworth hope to make an example of the family of Mary, who seem to have chosen an unfortunate target. Marie is known for its local charities and neighbors as a good community member. She works as a clerk in a hospital in central London, and in his spare time he has helped create a support group for single mothers vulnerable in the works to help women who are victims of domestic violence and is an active member the local church. It is extremely eloquent and angry and can not be reduced in a television interview judicial steps, from which the board described as "fascists" who have used the "dictatorship of the type" behavior.

If the Council decides to proceed with the eviction, Mary and her eight year old daughter were left homeless, and it is difficult to know where and how they would be relocated, or just thinking it would be a constructive development.

seems that his son, Samuel (not his real name), was also a bit silly, during the riots in London, but also sounds like he was mistreated by the authorities (although for the course legal proceedings, it is possible to explain why). Maria said that expressly forbidden to leave that night, but apparently received a call from a friend around 22:00 to ask him to come and escort her back because she was afraid of Clapham violence to erupt. Mary did not know he had come. "He always has to be the superhero," she said.

She knew there were problems, because about an upstairs window, he could see people drive their cars around the shopping area and download the things they had looted. At three, she received a phone call from a police officer told her that her son was in the hospital, somehow injured during the arrest. It does not give the name of the hospital and said he could not visit.

"My son was never arrested, never been in a fight, never had any problems at school, never been any problem at all. My son is well educated, but that was stupid and naive of the night. "He said later he entered Currys to look around but took nothing. He pleaded guilty this month to theft, because he was in the building, even if he stole something. He pleaded guilty to violent disorder, which was heard in December. He would begin a course in fine arts at Bournemouth in September, but the legal process under way means that he gave the place.

Mary describes the feeling that it is "in a bubble," see bad things happen to stand out. She tries to be philosophical about the prospect of losing their homes. "I think people who lived through the tsunami and have trouble completely. I think that's it. It's just a house. I lost my marbles." She stops because you start to cry and find it difficult to talk.

Your cat joins us in the kitchen, sitting on my laptop and purrs. Next door in the living room warm, your daughter is on the ground, surrounded by books, happily move on with your task. During the four years I've been here, who made this floor in a comfortable and safe family home, and obviously it would be painful to leave. Mary told her daughter about evacuation procedures.

"I am very angry, disgusted by the government," she said when she recovers. "I do not want to lose my house," "Do not deport the families of the rapists, right? Should be logical. They saw nothing about whether my son had a criminal record or had been complaints against the family. They should have checked my participation in the estate, and my charity work. "

But Charlie Masson-Smith, a spokesman for Wandsworth Council, said the Council based its decision on the outcome of the case of his son next month. He said that Marie and her daughter had done nothing wrong that it was irrelevant. "We need parents to show a part of parental responsibility," he said. "It is not suggested it would be if she was homeless deportation. May agreement and for rent in the private sector. The responsibilities of the Board to resolve their housing cease to exist."

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