AN AWARD-winning Birmingham film-maker has been sent to prison for 16 months for looting a clothes shop in the riots.

Aston Walker, of Norton Street, Winson Green, went into the city centre to film the chaotic scenes on August 9.

But the 40-year-old father joined in with the disorder instead, and stole £200 worth of clothes from H&M, on Corporation Street.

Walker earlier won awards at the Birmingham International Film Festival and had no previous convictions.

Hayley Firman, prosecuting, said Walker admitted stealing the items from a total of £10,000 taken by looters. Miss Firman said: “He works as a media person involved in making documentaries and children’s cartoons.

“He is unemployed at the moment and went into Birmingham to video the disorder.”

Kate Thomas, defending Walker, said he had since been introduced to relatives of the three men who died during the violence in Winson Green.

She said: “It has effectively, your honour, crystallised his remorse.”

In sentencing Walker, Judge Melbourne Inman QC said: “Yours is a sad case in many ways Mr Walker.

“You have won awards in 2008 and 2009 in relation to the Black International Film Festival in Birmingham and clearly in the past have been a worthwhile member of the community.”

Those jailed in a series of hearings at the city’s crown court on Friday also included 53-year-old David King, believed to be the oldest rioter in Birmingham.