Looting suspect traced on Facebook by stolen laptop's owner. 15 August 2011Last updated at 20:36 A teenager who allegedly stole a laptop from a west London flat during the riots was traced on Facebook by the computer's owner. Greg Martin, an information security professional, had a Macbook Pro laptop and other belongings taken from his flat in West Kensington last week. He had installed a tracking device on the laptop and got the suspect's ID from the social networking site. Soheil Khalilfar, 18, has been charged with handling stolen goods. Once he flagged the laptop as missing, Mr Martin waited for the first report to come in.
The former Nasa and FBI employee said: "Almost two weary days had gone by and I'm at dinner on a business trip in Luxembourg and I received an email which nearly knocked me out of my chair with excitement. " Trouble near home Mr Martin described on his blog how he then monitored the suspected burglar surfing the internet and was able to get his identity from Facebook.
Top e-petition demands axing of benefits for rioters. 11 August 2011Last updated at 17:57 E-petitions have proven to be a popular innovation, with the website at times struggling to meet demand An e-petition calling for rioters to lose their benefits has hit 100,000 signatures and become the first to be considered for a Commons debate. It has dwarfed others on the government website, which has struggled to deal with the volume of people accessing it. The petition has now been formally referred to a committee which will decide whether to hold a debate. It comes as English councils say they will seek to evict social tenants found guilty of taking part in disorder. The e-petitions website has been closed to address its technical problems and is due to re-open on Friday. But the Cabinet Office, which runs it, has confirmed the e-petition submitted by Stephen Mains, saying "convicted London rioters should loose [sic] all benefits" has reached 100,000 signatures. Mr Mains's petition has attracted vast numbers of signatures in just a few days.
'Fed Up' Residents Form Anti-Looter Patrols. Members of the public have taken to the streets of London to protect their communities from violence and looting. On the streets of Enfield, in the north of the capital, a group of 70 men patrolled their streets late into Tuesday night. They were one of several groups in the area determined to take a stand against rioting and to help the over-stretched police force. Enfield was badly affected by the riots on Monday night, with a Sony warehouse set on fire. One of those involved in the patrol, Nick Davidson, said a lack of action from police prompted their decision: "We've had enough of the police just standing there... while people are looting and ruining the whole area. "Everybody here pays tax and we've all had enough of it. "They're not policing our streets, we have to police them.
" On the patrol in Enfield, the men told Sky News that they were determined to take a stand for "as long as it takes. " They also believe they have struck a chord with their community. Birmingham disorder: Father's plea over Haroon Jahan death. 11 August 2011Last updated at 02:51 Tariq Jahan: "I have lost my son - if you want to lose yours step forward, otherwise calm down. " The father of a man who was killed along with two others when they were hit by a car during Tuesday's disorder in Birmingham has appealed for calm. Haroon Jahan, 21, Shahzad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, died as they protected property. A man aged 32 has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Tariq Jahan urged people to stay calm, and said communities should be united. About 250 people attended a peaceful vigil on Dudley Road in Winson Green, which began late on Wednesday night. Mr Jahan stood in the middle of a semi-circle of well-wishers as they lit candles. The crowd gathered near the scene of the fatal hit-and-run incident, which happened as the three men guarded property along with a crowd of 80 or so people on Tuesday night. 'Bring peace' Continue reading the main story At the scene Jeremy Cooke BBC News "As we stand here today, this is not a race issue. Wolverhampton riots: Salon owner stayed to defend shop. Why there were riots in Lewisham. We should not be surprised at riots in inner-city areas like Lewisham. A whole workless generation has been abandoned by society ‘The Welfare of the People is the First Great Law’.
So goes the motto for Lewisham Council, my home ‘town’ in south east London. Last night as the sirens wailed and the helicopters roamed restlessly overhead, it felt more like a war zone than the beneficent local state its motto suggests. Ours weren’t the worst of yesterday’s riots, but it would have come as no surprise if they had been. In 2010, a TUC report showed that Job Seekers Allowance claimants in my ‘hood outnumbered overall job vacancies by almost 14:1. Unemployment and poverty are not Lewisham’s only distinguishing characteristics. Grandparents and parents from the Caribbean, Africa, India and Pakistan – as well as the white working class – once worked hard for a living in local hospitals, transport, the council and low paid jobs in the private service sector.