Suspected rioters got an early wake-up call today as police carried out a series of dawn raids.

Officers raided 19 homes in Birmingham where they expected to find people who had been involved in the days of unrest in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and West Bromwich last month.

Chief Constable of West Midlands Police Chris Sims supported  officers on some of the raids, a move he hoped would “focus our minds that this is going to be a long, sustained piece of work, which we will keep pressing until we get to the point where we can press no further”.

The 10 arrests today brings the total number to 654 people who have been arrested in relation to the August disruption.

Mr Sims added: “This is the first of a series of arrest days where we are going back over the evidence we got from CCTV and forensic science, and systematically arresting people suspected of being involved.”