Rosina St James is vice chairwoman of British Youth Council and was working as a youth participation support officer for Croydon Council when the riots hit.

The 22-year-old lives in Croydon and is studying Social Policy and Government at the London School of Economics.

She said: "When it happened I was in Croydon and I wanted to look for myself and see what was going on. I heard it was all young people, but when I got there I saw it wasn't, there were old people and young people all getting involved.

"It was like a dream, I was thinking any moment now I am going to wake up. "There are a lot of grass-root projects that are feeling the repercussions of the recession and cuts, that can't provide the services they were going to. In terms of money I see it as being withdrawn, I don't see anything that says it has been spent.

"We don't really get much in Croydon in terms of support for young people, we are seeing excellent youth workers going because of the lack of funding.

"A lot of projects are starting to wither away and I feel that is going to be a big issue. If there are no activities there will be boredom and that in turns means young people have to find something to do, if that means starting a riot that might be what it is."