It is a year ago this week that London was reeling from the affects of four days of rioting.

Now Havering Police have exclusively revealed to the Recorder that a window of disorder opened up in the borough for just an hour-and-a-half on Monday August 8, as young teen gangs tried to take advantage of the spiralling situation elsewhere.

Police and PCSOs flooded the streets in the borough’s main centres, as all leave was cancelled, quickly arresting offenders, whilst dispersing possible trouble-makers.

A number of buildings and property were damaged, including the infamous attack on Romford Debenhams which was caught on camera.

But in total, a mere five incidents have been logged as riot-related.

A total of 19 people from Havering, ranging in age from 11 – the youngest in London – to 29, have been arrested to date for incidents both within the borough and outside it.

Borough Commander Mick Smith said: “Havering saw a very small and short period of disruption on the evening of Monday August 8, which caused concerns for our town centre community. Prior to this event, and since, we did not see any incidents of this sort.”

He added: “The comments and response that officers received from members of the public following the disturbance was very positive and from our own ongoing work within communities we have found that praise for the policing of these events continues.”

Three local officers remain seconded to Operation Withern – the ongoing investigation and processing of suspects from across London.

In total that central team has viewed more than 150,000 hours of CCTV footage and help bring more than 2,900 people to justice.