Those who rioted in London and other English cities in August were predominantly young, male, and from poorer backgrounds, according to a new report. However, the report provides no details concerning how many came from fatherless families, a factor identified by many commentators and politicians as one cause of the riots.

David Lammy, Labour MP for the Tottenham area, where the riots started said that the lack of male role models in young men’s lives was one of the long term reasons behind the trouble.

Mr Lammy MP warned that in areas like his there are “none of the basic starting presumptions of two adults who want to start a family, raise children together, love them, nourish them and lead them to full independence”.

He continued: “The parents are not married and the child has come, frankly, out of casual sex; the father isn’t present, and isn’t expected to be.”

The riots led to Prime Minister David Cameron vowing to tackling the “moral collapse” in Britain with more “no nonsense policing”.

He also said that the collapse of families was the main factor which had led to the turmoil adding that politicians had to be braver in addressing decades of erosion of traditional social values.

According to the figures, produced by the British Ministry of Justice yesterday, of the 1,984 people who had appeared before the courts for these offences, 90 per cent were male and 10 per cent were female. 

This compares with all first hearings for indictable offences in 2010 where 85 per cent were male and 15 per cent female.

The figures also showed that 26 per cent of those brought before the courts for offences relating to the public disorder were aged 10-17 (juveniles) and that a further 27 per cent were aged 18-20. Only five per cent of those appearing before the courts for the disorder were over 40 years old.

In terms of ethnicity, the figures showed that 42 per cent of those brought before the courts were White, 46 per cent were from a Black or mixed Black background, 7 per cent were from an Asian or mixed Asian background, 5 per cent were other. 

The figures also showed that 35 per cent of adults who appeared before the courts were claiming an out of work benefit at the time of the disorder compared to 12 per cent of the working age population in England in February 2011.

In addition, 42 per cent of young people who appeared before the courts for the disorder were in receipt of Free School Meals (FSM) compared to 16 per cent of all pupils in maintained secondary schools.

The figures also showed that young people appearing before the courts came disproportionately from areas with high levels of deprivation, with 64 per cent of 10-17 year olds of those appearing before the courts living in one of the 20 per cent most deprived areas whilst only three per cent lived in one of the 20 per cent least deprived areas

Overall 76 per cent of those who have appeared before the courts for the disorder had a previous caution or conviction, with 80 per cent of adults and 62 per cent of juveniles having had a previous caution or conviction.

Seventy one per cent of adult males who appeared before the courts for offences relating to the riots had at least one previous conviction compared to 28 per cent of males aged 18-52 in the population as a whole who have at least one previous conviction.

The figures also showed that 45 per cent of males aged 10-17 brought before the courts for the disorder had at least one previous conviction. This compares with two per cent of the 10-17 year old male population who have at least one previous conviction

Speaking in the aftermath of the riots, Mr Cameron said that politicians shying away from talking about right and wrong”had actually helped to cause the social problems we see around us”.

He said “We have been too unwilling for too long to talk about what is right and what is wrong.

“So you can’t say that marriage and commitment are good things – for fear of alienating single mothers.

“You don’t deal properly with children who repeatedly fail in school – because you’re worried about being accused of stigmatising them.”

And he said that the a collapse in parental authority had also contributed to the disorder.

“The question people asked over and over again last week was ‘where are the parents? Why aren’t they keeping the rioting kids indoors?’,” he said.

“Tragically that’s been followed in some cases by judges rightly lamenting: ‘why don’t the parents even turn up when their children are in court?’

“Well, join the dots and you have a clear idea about why some of these young people were behaving so terribly.”