It was a shopping spree, says looter

Young rioters who took part in the Tottenham troubles have admitted their parents would have been ashamed.

One told ITV said: "Nobody's saying it's justified. Nobody's saying that at all. We're not saying it's right but you have to understand, you have to accept people are broke, people are
poor, people are hungry.

"They are youths that have got single parents and they go home and see their parents are not happy."

When asked what his parents would approve of the actions he replied: "Of course not." The youth
said the problems were down to poverty. He told ITV: "We're all suffering. The system is not helping us like how they say they are. They
have these meetings. They're not helping the youth. There's no youth clubs in estates or 'urban estates' as they call it.

"There's no money in the poorest communities. We see it over and over again. The rich will get richer and poor will get poorer."

He continued: "I can't apologise. I could apologise if I had done something but I know as an
individual I have not gone to burn people's houses but I am supporting the cause of looting if it's going to be against the system, if it's going to be against the Government, which includes the police."

Four teenagers who looted in neighbourhoods across London claimed it was like a "shopping spree". The group told Sky News they stole iPads, BlackBerry tablets, games consoles, laptops, clothes,
trainers and even nappies and clothes for their children.

They claim they used a transit van to move between boroughs and grabbed so many different items that
the van was filled several times over and emptied between their sprees.

One aged 16 said: "Everything we wanted we could get."