London Riots: Reeves Furniture Store Arson

After only two minutes of watching that footage the full extent of the huge blaze becomes apparent. The witness using the mobile phone describes the scene as people gawp like 'lemmings' at the fire. In this post I will try to unpick the reasons and events of the riots using the Reeves Corner arson attack for a case study.

'My first thoughts are this is a complete catastrophe.

We've been here since 1867. They've (the police) completely lost control, there's no law and order'

These are the desperate words of Trevor Reeves, owner of Reeves Corner furniture store in Croydon, London, whose business was burnt down by Gordon Thompson on the 8th of August 2011. The shop had been in the family for five generations and the road in which it stood was named after the well-known shop.  The images of the burning store have become iconic image of the London riots 2011.

Gordon Thompson was captured on CCTV near Reeves Corner at
around the time of the fire 

The prosecution said: 

"On leaving the store, he asked another of the rioters for a lighter and, as soon as he was given one, went back to the shop and set fire to a sofa inside the shattered window.

"The ensuing fire razed the building to the ground. Such was the ferocity of the blaze that embers and heat from the flames set fire to property on the other side of the road and numerous residents were forced to flee their homes for their lives."

The Law needs to be fair in these circumstances. It is all too easy for judges and juries to crumble at the huge public outcry. One must not make excuses of course, but rather understand the criminal's situation so riots can be avoided again. 


Embarrassingly, similar scenes were echoed across inner city London and large cities such as Birmingham and Manchester in the north. Although many did not suffer as badly as Trevor Reeves, millions of pounds worth of designer goods, electrical goods and jewelry was looted from smashed shop windows. 


This arson attack highlights the pointlessness of the London riots. How did Thompson profit from razing to the ground a furniture store he had just looted? If his motives were simply born from malicious spite for those who had succeeded, this raises the question about how the economic recession and Britain's class system. Do they create such feelings among the hard done by in society?

Although this 'mindless' violence is tragic, I believe that the reason stems from the public's disappointment and outrage at the government's compliance with banker's demands despite them getting our country into the mess it finds itself in. At the time of the riots, not one banker had been incarcerated by the law, despite many stealing millions from the economy. Thats a lot of trainers. Just because a man wheres a suit does not mean he is exempt from the same level of crime demonstrated by those in hoodies. The simple difference is that the man in the suit, who deserve to be bailed out by the government. Its in Cameron's interests. 

The worrying fact is that the Conservative government is implementing a huge amount of public austerity measures that will directly affect the youth of our society. I hope Cameron has not abandoned this most vulnerable generation, stereotyped as hoodies, because he notices they do not care to vote. Comedian Russell Brand describes his troubled coming of age in a article for The Guardian in light of the riots: 

I felt that, and I had a mum who loved me, a dad who told me that nothing was beyond my reach, an education, a grant from Essex council (to train as an actor of all things!!!) and several charities that gave me money for maintenance. I shudder to think how disenfranchised I would have felt if I had been deprived of that long list of privileges.

We need to be able to understand the desperation some rioters are feeling due to the withdrawal in targeted public spending without having first hand experience of it. 

The Hacking Scandal Explained

It is so easy for people to brush away the hacking scandal, arguably the biggest story of 2011, as simply boring politics. However, this story affects us all, if not obviously, every day because the media surrounds us. The ethics reporters follow are so important; they make up our democracy and much of what the Western world is today. Truthful, honest reporting is vital around the world because without it we are severed from the real events of the world.

The scandal started back in August 2005 when two investigative journalists at the News of the World (NOTW), Clive Goodman and Glen Mulcaire, were arrested over an allegation of interfering with the mobile phone of Prince William and convicted of conspiracy to phone hacking. Andy Coulson, editor of the NOTW at the time of the hacking allegations, became chief of communications for the Conservative Party. It came to light that journalists, while Coulson was editor at the News of the World, had hacked into the mobile phones of numerous celebrities.

It emerged that News International, the company which owned the daily ‘News of the World’, had paid one million pounds in ‘hush money’ to celebrities who threatened to reveal the crimes. In February 2010, MPs investigating newspaper ethics said in a report that it was ‘inconceivable’ that editors at the News of the World knew nothing of the ‘rife’ hacking at their paper.

Although there was considerable media disapproval, David Cameron gave Coulson “a second chance” by appointing him head of the government’s media operation. A year later, Coulson resigned due toincreasing speculation about his involvement in hacking and was finally arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications. By February 2011, The Met Police stated they had identified more victims of Mulcaire and Goodman, now residing in jail, and were urgently notifying previous victims, previously told they were not under threat.

After three more journalists were arrested, NOTW admitted it had a role in phone hacking - this was the first time it acknowledged the whole company was involved. Despite many social commentators discussing its demise, the paper hung on and paid Andy Gray, the shamed football pundit, £20,000 in compensation due to his phone being hacked. This is just one of the many examples of the newspaper using money to bribe people from speaking out against them.

June, and following a month long trial of Levi Bellfield is found guilty of murdering Milly Dowler in 2002. Milly was found in a wood unclothed and unburied. It was discovered that a lawyer had learned from police that Dowler's voicemail messages had been hacked, possibly by a NOTW investigator, while police were searching for her. It is claimed that messages on the phones were deleted, giving the victim’s family a cruel false hope of her safety. Then, on the 10th July 2011, News International announced it would close down the News of the World after over one hundred and sixty years in circulation.

Following further intense speculation, the owner of News International, Rupert Murdoch, withdrew his offer to buy in full ‘BSkyB’, the broadcasting company, with years of intense negotiations shattered by the hacking scandal. On 13th July 2011, David Cameron appointed Lord Justice Leveson as head of ‘Leveson Inquiry’ on the phone hacking scandal, interviewing those involved such as Sienna Miller and J.K. Rowling. The case was designed to access whether media is in fact able to selfregulate, and the general ‘culture, practices and ethics of the media.’

Speculation grew even more when former News of the World ‘showbiz’ editor, Sean Hoare was found dead in his home. Hoare was thought to be an advocate of hacking as most the victims were celebrities. The death is not treated as suspicious; Hoare was a heavy smoker, drinker and frequently used class-A drugs.

News International’s shares fell by 5% on the US stock exchange as the phone hacking scandal reverberating around the world, affecting America and Australia. Two days later, BSkyB the company which broadcasts Sky TV and is part owned by Rupert Murdock, who was later attacked with a foam pie by Johnnie Marbles during a select committee alongside his son, announced a £253m payout to silence angry shareholders.

From August to February 2012 the Leveson Inquiry has been working to investigate the causes which bred the environment whereby the crime of phone hacking was deemed acceptable.

Overall, the hacking scandal can be compared to a black hole; growing the more things it consumes. It has sullied the names of world leaders, respected politicians, and international celebrities.

This scandal was the inevitable outcome of the climate of fear and bullying present in newsrooms. Reporters, desperate for promotion and acceptance from their editors, discard morality for their big break. In this story, each revelation amplifies the calls for change, and now.