Islington man who handled goods looted in London riots escapes jail

Two men who admitted handling stolen goods from a shop cleared out during the London riots walked free from court last week.

Santos St John, 30, of Theseus Walk, Islington and Clive Owori, 24, of Hackney, were both caught on camera driving off with their cars full of stock from Seba Electronics in West Ealing on the third night of anarchy that swept the capital last August.

The pair were due to stand trial accused of burglary but the charge was left to lie on file after they admitted handling the goods.

St John, who has convictions for driving while disqualified, aggravated vehicle taking and drugs, was given an eight-month jail term suspended for 18 months.

He was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work, banned from driving for year and given a four-month curfew from 6pm to 3am.

Owori, of Queensbridge Road, was sentenced to five months suspended for 18 months, ordered to perform 200 hours of community work, disqualified from driving for 12 months and also given a curfew.

Alison Wilkes, prosecuting, said the shop lost more than �200,000 of stock as looters went on the rampage.

The court was told that St John had insisted that all of the goods in his car were taken from the pavement outside the store.

His barrister Veronica Reeve described the crime as “opportunistic” and said the items, when checked later, were broken.

Owori’s barrister, Scott Brady, said his client gave a lift to a man who had looted and put the items in the defendant’s car.

Outside court, store owner Bridj Sehgal, 80, said the items police have recovered will be checked and given away to pensioners and the poor.

He said: “I don’t have any suffering, I don’t feel any tension and that’s because I am a very relaxed person.

“We are back to normal and the people who did this have suffered the most. I am a very stress-free man. When God built me he forgot to put the stress in me.”