Richard Mannington Bowes
The London riots claimed their fifth victim Friday morning, when Richard Mannington Bowes, 68, died in hospital of severe head injuries. The Ealing recluse was set upon and beaten by thugs on Monday night while trying to stamp out a fire outside the local shopping center. Bowes had long suffered at the hands of local miscreants, who urinated on his door and cluttered it with trash. Londoners have felt a particular pathos for the eccentric pensioner, whom neighbors called "a very kind man with old English values." London Mayor Boris Johnson paid tribute to Bowes when he toured riot damage in the west London suburb. "There are many villains in this story but also many heroes, and I want to pay particular tribute to Mr. Bowes. But he has paid a terrible price. I am desperately sorry for him."