BBC Crimewatch Live appeal over summer disorder

Police searching for suspects as part of an investigation into violent disorder last summer have issued an appeal on the BBC's Crimewatch Live.

The programme, which aired at 10.45 GMT on BBC One on Thursday and is available to watch back on BBC iPlayer, showed images and videos gathered by a number of forces in the UK, including Staffordshire Police.

Officers in the county said they had arrested more than 240 people so far, and 87 people have been charged, 54 of whom have been sentenced in court.

They have been investigating after riots broke out in Stoke-on-Trent and Tamworth on 3 and 4 August last year.

Two people who were involved in the disorder in Tamworth have been sentenced for the offence of "riot – unlawful violence", which is the most serious offence under the Public Order Act 1986.

DCI Zoe Hardy, who is the national investigation lead for the large-scale disorder which broke out last summer, said there had been about 1,900 arrests nationally since the operation began.

"Following the tragic events last July in Southport and Merseyside, large-scale, widespread disorder took place both there and across the country," she said.

"It involved offences such as theft and large-scale criminal damage, which had an affect on the communities, business outlets and residential premises."

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