Ealing riot (updated): 68 year old man attacked has died :-(

Ealing riot: Richard Mannington Bowes dies after attack
11 August 2011 Last updated at 21:17 ET


A 68-year-old man who was critically injured while he tried to stamp out a fire during riots in west London has died, Scotland Yard has said.

Richard Mannington Bowes suffered head injuries in an attack in Ealing on Monday night and was left in a coma.

Police have launched a murder inquiry and issued a CCTV image of a suspect.

Police say four other deaths - a man found shot in a car in Croydon and three men hit by a car in Birmingham - may be linked to the recent disorder.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14500869

I thought that was a solidly middle-class, even fashionable area. Is this an isolated incident -- or is this a lot worse than we thought, and not just confined to the soccer hooligans' haunts across town? :scared:

...that whomever attacked him wasn't expressing concerns about Government austerity programs.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1716444

For those that point out the shooting of Duggan or the attack on the girl are no excuse for the destruction that followed: please stop stating the obvious. Everybody realises this, especially the people who live in those areas. The vandals, looters and muggers must be caught and face justice - that goes without saying. But Londoners also know the rage that exists against the police, on a huge scale. It's inevitable that mindless morons will take advantage of chaos and begin looting and burning. It happens whenever a riot starts, for whatever reason. It's a symptom of the situation, not a cause.

While the media has sensationalized a few of the more atypical (wealthy family's daughter, younger aged kids with no record, etc along with the worst order of them robbing the injured and beaten (backpack boy) or jumping the pavement in a high speeding car and killing people) the cross section reported in court so far includes plenty of first-time offenders, but also plenty of opportunistic career criminals.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8694494/UK-riots-David-Cameron-condemns-sick-society-as-grammar-school-girl-in-court-over-riots.html

"He was pictured lying face down in a pool of blood after being assaulted while trying to stop youths setting fire to large rubbish bins across the green from the flat where he lived alone.

It has emerged that Mr Mannington Bowes was a recluse who was tormented by youths repeatedly urinating and throwing litter in the street outside his home.

A friend and local businessman who was also attacked in the riots said Mr Mannington Bowes was a “harmless” and “lovely” man but he would often confront people. “He was the type of guy who was always asking people, 'Don’t put the rubbish there.’ He was always picking up rubbish and cleaning the road,” said the friend, who asked not to be named because he still feared reprisals by youths after his business was attacked and he suffered cuts to his face.

(snip)

Mr Mannington Bowes confronted stone-throwing youths on Monday night, but he was attacked and left for dead with a fractured skull."

more:

London riots: pensioner who confronted rioting yobs dies after life support machine is switched off

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8697225/London-riots-pensioner-who-confronted-rioting-yobs-dies-after-life-support-machine-is-switched-off.html