West Midlands disorder: Arrests follow 'difficult night'

Police are continuing to arrest people following a second night of trouble across the West Midlands.

Chief Constable Chris Sims said it had been a "very difficult" night in Birmingham and elsewhere.

Groups of up to 40 people gathered and there was limited disorder in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton on Tuesday evening, he said.

The Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham has said it will close at 16:00 BST on Wednesday as a precaution.

Protection dogs will be used to safeguard the malls and surrounding areas, a spokesman said.

"As always our primary concern is for the safety of our shoppers and retailers so we continue to work closely with the police, a statement said.

Mr Sims said at least 163 people were arrested overnight and more would be arrested on Wednesday.

"We will continue to make arrests and create, I hope, an obvious deterrent that if people steal from shops and cause damage they will be brought to justice.

"This is not a game," he said.

In Birmingham, a man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a vehicle was driven into a group of men. Three of them died in hospital.

Six hundred officers are working in the West Midlands with additional officers from neighbouring counties joining them on Wednesday night.

Leave has been cancelled, Mr Sims said.

A large scrapyard fire in the Nechells area of Birmingham on Wednesday morning was not linked to the violence, police said.

Nineteen people have been charged and remanded to appear in court on Wednesday following the disorder in Birmingham over the past two days.

A total of six police officers sustained minor injuries in the overnight disorder.

Staff at the Eric Beckett jewellers site on Queen Street, Wolverhampton, were among those cleaning up in the city after shops were looted.

Mr Beckett, who has been in the street for 40 years, said money, watches and ornaments were taken.

"Don't know when [we should] open now, could be a month, two months, just don't know.

"I've got to have windows put in. I honestly don't know what we're going to do."

During Tuesday night, the service attended 35 incidents in Wolverhampton, West Bromwich and a number of areas of Birmingham.

A total of 31 patients were treated by ambulance staff with 19 requiring hospital treatment, but the majority of incidents were relatively minor assaults, the ambulance service said.

Dudley Street, in Wolverhampton, and High Street, in West Bromwich, were closed on Tuesday evening as youths gathered.

Several more roads in West Bromwich were also shut and two cars were set on fire.

Shops, including a branch of Marks & Spencer and a hi-fi store, were targeted in Birmingham.

Shots were reported in the Aston area.