Some of the young people arrested after the Birmingham street riots have led difficult lives and should be shown compassion, a top police chief has insisted.

West Midlands Chief Constable Chris Sims said there was a need to be pragmatic about the way the offenders were dealt with.

Mr Sims told a special Birmingham City Council meeting that he had spoken personally to several of the youngsters detained after last week’s violent scenes.

He said: “I spent Saturday evening in the custody block at Steelhouse Lane Police Station. There are tragic offenders as well as tragic victims.

“Young people who have been in care for most of their lives.

“We need to show some compassion and be pragmatic about how we deal with these people.”

However, Mr Sims said it would be up to the courts to decide how to punish more than 500 alleged rioters, if they are found guilty.

He said: “There has to be a deterrent to stop people thinking they can behave like this in future.

“We will put everyone before the courts and it is up to the courts to decide how they are to be punished.”

The meeting saw tributes from councillors across the political divide to the bravery of the police and to the father of Haroon Jahan, one of three young men killed at Winson Green as they sought to protect a family business.

Mr Jahoon’s father, Tariq Jahan, won national recognition for calmly appealing for an end to the violence hours after his son was killed.

There are growing calls for a council-led public inquiry into last week’s riots, which saw more than two dozen shops ransacked and looted.

Opposition Labour councillors, who expect to take control of the city after next May’s civic elections, said they would launch a probe into the underlying conditions of high unemployment, poor housing and a lack of education that are thought to result in many young people feeling that they have no future.

Deputy Labour leader Ian Ward said: “Unemployment in some areas exceeds 30 per cent, generations of families have never worked and are never likely to work.

“We need to address the fact that nearly half of 16-year-olds in Birmingham will leave school without five good GCSEs, which means tens of thousands of people can’t get a well paid job or any job at all.”

He pointed out that more than half of white working class and Afro-Caribbean teenagers in Birmingham have a reading age of only seven.

Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Perry Barr, one of several Birmingham MPs at the meeting, said: “It is important that we have an inquiry to look at what is going on and find out how we can prevent this happening again.”

The cabinet member for children, young people and families, Les Lawrence, said it was a “myth” that most of those involved in the riots were children.

Only 81 of the 500 arrested were under 18, he said.

Coun Lawrence (Con Northfield) added: “The vast majority of those committing these heinous actions were adults, and we need to make that very clear.”

Council leader Mike Whitby said “lessons would be learned” from last week’s events, but stopped short of ordering an inquiry.

Coun Whitby (Con Harborne) added: “The common message is that people cannot rob and intimidate with impunity. That is just wrong.”

It did not matter whether the rioters were “white, brown, black or white” they were all criminals, he added.

Alan Rudge, the cabinet member with responsibility for community cohesion, called for a return to family values.

Coun Rudge (Con Sutton Vesey) added: “We have demoted the importance of family life. Parental authority has been undermined by people who, in their great wisdom and cleverness, did not think it needed to be there.

“We must not continue to worship a culture of greed.”