ONE person was killed during the Toxteth riots.

The tragedy came towards the end of July after it seemed that the initial rioting had died down.

David Moore, 23, lived in Avondale Road, Wavertree, but, on the night of July 28, 1981, he had been visiting friends in the Liverpool 8 area.

He walked with a heavy limp, the result of an earlier car accident, and as he made his way home on foot he was unable to get out of the way of a police van as it charged across some waste land near Upper Parliament Street to break up a group of youths.

He suffered severe leg injuries and died later that night in hospital.

The incident, the night before the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, led to a new outbreak of rioting and an investigation by Northumbria Police into Mr Moore’s death.

The two police officers driving the van were eventually charged with Mr Moore’s manslaughter and faced trial at Mold Crown Court in 1982. Allegations flew thick and fast at the hearing – was David Moore a rioter or just in the wrong place at the wrong time? – but eventually the police were acquitted on the direction of the judge.

A MERSEYSIDE police officer, PC William Marshall, suffered severe internal injuries during the riots and died in 1986 as a direct result.

He had been awarded a Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct and was 47 when he died.