Prince hears victims’ tales as Royal couple visit riot-hit areas

Accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles met families whose homes were burnt down and volunteers who have been helping them.

On a visit to Tottenham Green Leisure Centre in north London, the royal couple saw first hand the emergency relief effort that has got under way to help those affected get their lives back on track.

The trust plans to double its support for young people in Manchester, Birmingham and the London communities of Hackney, Tottenham and Croydon.

As well as committing £1m from funds already raised, the charity is calling on the business community to back a £1.5m fundraising drive to bring in the rest of the cash.

Among those they met in Tottenham were Barbara Bereda-Malik, 45, and her husband Omar Malik, 47, whose flat above the Carpetright store was destroyed in a blaze which has become a symbolic image of the disorder.

Speaking of meeting Charles, Mrs Bereda-Malik said: “It was really nice to see him and see they’re concerned about our situation.

“He asked about how we were coping.”

Mr Malik, a cab driver, added that the council-coordinated support at the centre had been “amazing”.

He added: “But at the end of the day we’ve got this trauma that we’ve been through.

“We are living in limbo now and it’s very stressful.”

The Prince chuckled as he posed for a mobile phone photo with the couple’s son Oskar Malik, five, who appeared bemused by all the attention.

The youngster also offered the Duchess a crisp from the packet he was munching on, which she good-naturedly ate.

More then 100 families have come to the centre for help since the emergency strategy was put into practice last week.

A spokeswoman for Haringey Council said 45 properties were destroyed in the fires started by rioters with a further 10 badly damaged.

Nearly all of those families have sought help from the centre, which has been offering aid with housing, legal advice, financial and business advice and child care, and victim support.

A temporary job centre has also been set up as the local one burnt down and the centre is collecting clothing and household goods donations which are sorted out and distributed to the needy in the area.

Secondary schoolteacher Anna Beames, 30, said she decided to volunteer after she came to drop off some clothes.

She said: “I came here to donate some clothes last Tuesday and I haven’t really left. I’ve been helping with everything really.

“It’s my community, it’s where I’m from, so I felt I should.”

Speaking about the Duchess, she said: “She just asked me what I was doing and how long I’d been here. She told me she could barely believe it when she was watching it all on the TV.”

Wearing a green and white patterned dress and green jacket, Camilla spoke to a number of young children being looked after at the temporary centre’s creche.

She took particular interest in 19-month-old Mia Greenaway, whose home was badly smoke damaged in one of the fires.

Her mother, Victoria Norman, 38, a creative designer, said: “We had to watch our friends’ homes burn down around us and we thought we’d be next.”

The couple later met young people affected by the riots at a Prince’s Trust centre in Hackney, east London.