TEN years ago this week, police officers from across the North-East and North Yorkshire took to the streets of London as a 16,000-strong force tried to prevent another night of rioting, looting and arson.

The capital was calmer as the violence appeared to have moved north with a series of clashes in Manchester city centre, where a clothes shop was set on fire, and riot police in vans chased large groups of youths wearing ski masks and hoods as they rampaged through the streets.

Greater Manchester Police described the scenes as unprecedented.

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said the rioting and looting had brought "shame on the streets of Salford and Manchester" and was "senseless violence and senseless criminality".

Police forces in the NorthEast and North Yorkshire sent officers to London to support a huge operation after the worst riots in decades on Monday night saw police officers being attacked, shops looted and businesses set on fire amid hundreds of arrests.

The operation came after Prime Minister David Cameron returned from holiday to chair a meeting of the Government's emergency committee, Cobra.

The riots were sparked following a man being shot dead by police, despite there being no evidence of him being armed.

The death of Mark Duggan, 29, in Tottenham, north London, was the trigger for the violence after a peaceful protest on Saturday ended in rioting.

Also that week, an ancient church has suspended services because of bats.

Hundreds of the protected creatures were roosting in Hilda's Church, Ellerburn, near Pickering, North Yorkshire, making the interior unbearable for the congregation.

Church warden Liz Cowley said: "The walls and floors are covered with bat droppings. Bat urine is sprayed throughout the church so that nearly all the woodwork within the church is damaged."

The bats had been a problem for many years and the church had raised £10,000 to provide alternative roosts for the protected species.