English riots claim fifth fatality: police

LONDON–A man who was attacked during riots in England died in hospital from his injuries, police said Friday, becoming the fifth fatality from the unrest which flared in London six days ago.

Richard Mannington Bowes, 68, was found unconscious late Monday in Ealing, a west London suburb where several buildings were looted and cars torched.

The man was pronounced dead at 11:52 pm (2252 GMT) Thursday and a post-mortem will be carried out shortly, Metropolitan police announced as they launched a murder inquiry.

“This was a brutal incident that resulted in the senseless killing of an innocent man,” Detective Chief Inspector John McFarlane said.

The wave of riots across London and in some other English cities was triggered by the death of a man in a police shooting last week.

Mark Duggan, 29, was killed by armed officers last Thursday in Tottenham, north London, after they stopped the taxi he was in during an attempted arrest as part of Operation Trident.

A probe into Duggan’s death heard on Tuesday that he was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest.

The riots claimed the lives of a man who was shot during disturbances in Croydon, south London, on Monday and three men who were struck by a car as they defended their property from looters in Birmingham on Tuesday.