Rioters must face victims, says Clegg

Nick Clegg wants to see those involved in last week’s violence take up community service in the areas where they wrought havoc.

Under the Deputy Prime Minister’s plans, rioters and looters will be made to meet their victims face to face by taking part in “community payback schemes” in every community affected by the riots.

The schemes will see the criminals repairing and improving the affected neighbourhoods while wearing highly visible orange clothing, he said.

"I also want them to face their victims. I want them to face people like the woman I met on Monday last week in Tottenham, who said to me that she was still wearing the clothes ... she was wearing when she ran out of her flat before her own flat was burned down.

“The offender who did that, who set fire to that building, should have to face her and understand that there are human consequences, to explain why he or she did what they did and to apologise.”

A report on the causes of the disorder is to be drafted over the next six to nine months before being presented to leaders of the three main political parties.

"It won't be a public inquiry, it won't be established under the Inquiries Act, but it will serve as a way in which victims and communities can have their voice heard," said Clegg.

Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday that the Government would work to address 120,000 “problem” families and look into non-military national service for all 16-year-olds.

Church leaders are appealing to the Government to take Christian values seriously in the wake of the riot and see them as part of the solution to Britain’s social problems.

In a letter to the Sunday Telegraph, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali said the loss of a moral framework had plunged Britain into a “new barbarism”.

“We must take steps immediately to strengthen the family as a place for moral and spiritual formation where our children first learn boundaries,” he said.

“What we instil in children today will determine in the future how they govern a nation, influence our policies and ultimately determine the quality of life in our communities.

“We each make choices and decisions based on our value systems. Godlessness has only produced selfishness and greed. The well-tried Christian faith has given us hope in the past and can do so again now.”