ONE of the key victims of the summer riots has nominated Ealing Council and its leader Julian Bell as her heroes.

Liz Pilgrim, whose shop baby e was ransacked last August, praised the council for its speed in cleaning up and organising financial payouts as well as its good communication and personal visits.

She said: "I think Ealing Clouncil showed exemplary understanding in the aftermath of the Ealing riots. I would also single out Julian Bell who was actively calming the situation via Twitter on the evening of August 8."

Cllr Bell, who has been on the council for ten years and leader for two, said he was delighted to be nominated but stressed he was "just doing my job."

He said: "It is very kind of Liz to do that. I had enormous empathy for those most affected. Having seen how awful it was you just want to do the most you can to try and get people going again. When something like that happens you don't know how you will react. I was very proud of the way the council responded and the speed and the way in which it reacted to help businesses.

He said he decided to Tweet because a lot of misinformation was going out, He said: "I just tried to do my best in a difficult situation and I'm glad it helped. Quite a lot of people came up to me to thank me, saying it was the only information they could rely on including one poor girl who was virtually a prisoner in her own home with a gang outside threatening to petrol bomb her house. She said the only thing that kept her sane was reading my Tweet.

"It was very heartening the way the whole community came together afterwards. Although for most people you would not know there was a riot there are still scars; physically and mentally. I saw with my own eyes a society that went from peace to anarchy and chaos where a man lost his life."