In Birmingham a man was arrested on suspicion of murder after three Asian men were knocked down and killed, reportedly while trying to protect their community from looters.

INTERACTIVE MAP: Watch how the riots spread out from London

Riot police were deployed to Birmingham City Hospital as about 200 relatives congregated there.

Witnesses and family members said the victims, Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir, had been part of a group protecting the area from looting after local people had left a local mosque.

Several cars drove past the group as it was guarding stores and the occupants shouted abuse before one vehicle returned, mounted the pavement and hit the men at "tremendous speed", throwing them into the air.

"People came out of prayers and they were protecting the area. My friends were targeted - they were standing on the side of the road and the car just came and ran them over," witness Kabir Khan Isakhel said.

The father of Haroon Jahan, one of the men who died, said said the incident "makes no sense".

"I've got no words to describe why he was taken and why this has happened and what's happening to the whole of England," Tariq Jahan told the BBC.

"It makes no sense why people are behaving in this way and taking the lives of three innocent people."

Another witness said the incident happened after a car was set ablaze in a nearby street and youths gathered, prompting local people to defend a local shopping area.

"They lost their lives for other people, doing the job of the police," Mohammed Shakiel said outside the hospital where the men were taken, prompting around 200 people to gather in support.

"They were protecting the community as a whole."

One witness told the BBC: ''A car came flying, took out three of the guys. They flew into mid-air. The car went up on to the kerb and then it was gone. Six to seven seconds and it was all over and three of my boys haven't survived in hospital.''

A man shot in the head in his car during rioting in London on Monday night has been named as Brixton Hill man Trevor Ellis, 26.

Scotland Yard said Mr Ellis had travelled to trouble-hit Croydon with friends when the group got into a row with nine others, sparking a car chase. He was shot dead in his vehicle.