The wall outside the pub that was set alight

»An unemployed man who left school with just one GCSE, helped create the Woolwich wall of hope.

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Danny Mercer, 23, from Thamesmead, wants shoppers to post messages about the riots – which ravaged the town centre – in a bid to rekindle community spirit.

He got together with a group of residents and spray painted the boards outside the Great Harry pub in Wellington Street, Woolwich and began handing out marker pens to passers-by to write their thoughts.

Among the many messages of support and disgust, one reads: “Your trainers are going to look well cool in Belmarsh. Enjoy.”

The pub – which could be demolished over safety fears – was set alight last Monday when hundreds of looters descended on the town centre, breaking into shops, burning a police car, a shop in Powis Street and the flat above it.

Danny said: “People are blaming people like me, but I’m not a rioter.

“I am finding it very hard to get a job. I left school with one GCSE, a C in science.

Disgusted

“I had a very disruptive schooling and got into a lot of trouble.

“The only jobs I have ever been able to get are ones where I am someone’s skivvy. But I did not go out and riot.

“I was disgusted and shocked. The people who did were just mindless thugs.

“It is not just young people that were involved. It was all ages and creeds. It spread like a virus.

“The wall goes to show that not every young person is like that.

“On the wall, there is a handprint from a three-year-old. A 74-year-old man, who has lived in Woolwich for 71 years, said he had never seen anything like this. He said that this topped the riots in the 1980s.

“Woolwich is already bouncing back. The first four or five days after the riot, there was an eerie silence, there were people about but there was no noise, but now it is lively again.”

A community meeting about the riots is due to be in held tonight at the Woolwich wall at 7pm.