London riots: 'I don't want kids today to go down the same path'

Vernel Dolor was jailed for two years for violent disorder in the London riots

On the second night of the London riots of August 2011, Vernel Dolor went out on to the streets and threw two bottles at police. He was arrested and jailed for two years.

Struggling to secure work due to his criminal record, Mr Dolor turned to drug-dealing. Over the next few years he saw friends killed or sent to jail.

Inspired by his daughter, and with the help of charity Key4Life, he has turned his life around. Mr Dolor, from Hackney, now volunteers with the charity, which aims to reduce reoffending by delivering rehabilitation programmes to prisoners.

But on the 10th anniversary of the riots, Mr Dolor is still dealing with the consequences of his actions. Here, in his own words, he recalls what happened that night and reflects on what has changed since.

'You could feel something in the air'

"Any one of us black men could have been Mark Duggan"

On the first night of the riots I was looking out my window and there was an atmosphere brewing.

You could feel something in the air.

You're used to officers killing black males all over the world, especially in America. But not here. This was just down the road in Tottenham.

People just felt like today would be the day to stand up because any one of us black men could have been Mark Duggan.

That's why the community stood up and went outside - and people came out in their droves.

'We started launching bottles at the police'

Mr Dolor said rioters tried to send a message to the police

When I wandered on to the streets a few of my peers had barricaded the road with recycling bins and whatnot.

We'd been trying to speak to the police for years about how they treated us but it falls on deaf ears, so it's like the message needed to be sent out in a different way.

That message was you need to do better and we need better for the community. And this stand-off is how the message had to be made.

We started launching bottles at the police. I picked up and threw two bottles.

'Other side of the coin'

Mr Dolor says he apologises to the victims of the London riot

People's livelihoods were affected and people's shops were damaged and I fully understand that.

And whatever part I played in that, I fully accept responsibility for it.

But I urge people to see the other side of the coin.

Behind the riots, there's a community that was strained and frustrated. Frustrated by the very people that are supposed to be helping them.

So it was like we had to enact some sort of violence for things to be heard.

And we do apologise to anybody caught up in the collateral damage of that.

'They tried to deport me'

Mr Dolor spent his early childhood in St Lucia

The events of that night completely changed my life.

I threw two bottles and they gave me a year in jail for each bottle. I was out a year later but even then they tried to deport me.

I was brought to the UK from St Lucia as a seven year old and I don't know any other home.

They weren't able to kick me out of the country but my life out of prison was under strict conditions.

For nearly 10 years I've not been able to be a normal member of society, to pay taxes and provide for my daughter.

'I always knew I had the ability to do better'

Mr Dolor now volunteers as a mentor at Key4Life

That year in jail did not make me any better, in fact my criminality escalated. It literally just made me more privy to the criminal lifestyle.

When I got out of jail I wasn't able to work, but I had an 18-month old child and partner to provide for. I became a drug courier, moving packages across London. But it was no life.

I saw friends killed or sent to jail.

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I always knew I had the ability to do better.

After another stint in prison I bumped into an old cellmate who told me about Key4Life, a charity that runs programmes aimed at reducing reoffending.

They did in five or six months what the Probation Service couldn't do in 14 years. They gave me the skills and confidence I needed; they helped me to change my mindset. I understand life a lot better now.

'Not enough has been done'

"We're normal human beings just like everybody else"

Even with the hardship and pain for the last 10 years, the riots had to happen.

The Met Police and government need to understand that there are people in these communities hurting.

We're normal human beings just like everybody else and we deserve to be treated like everybody else. The police and government heard us that day, but they didn't listen to us.

There hasn't been enough done to try and bridge that gap and improve the trust between police and the people in the community.

It was not just the criminals and guys in the gangs that enacted this violence and were launching these missiles. It was the veterinarians, midwives and normal working-class people in the community that saw the frustration that the police have been handing out to us all these years.

Things have got better in certain ways and things have got worse.

I feel like there's not much when there's not much for the young guys, young men and women to participate in positively.

I now volunteer at Key4Life, trying to change that.

These kids are so amazing, like I was amazing, and I don't want them to go down the same path.

As told to Sam Francis and Katharine Carpenter