Wandsworth LBC has evicted a tenant who took part in the August 2011 summer riots from a council-owned property, exactly two years to the day after he took part in the looting of a bank in the Clapham Junction area.

Jonathan Mason, aged 37, was formally evicted from a flat in Roehampton exactly two years to the day after he participated in looting the Lavender Hill branch of the HSBC bank. 

However, despite the repeated urging of prime minister David Cameron and communities secretary Eric Pickles, it is thought few of those found guilty of participating in the disturbances have been forcibly removed from social housing.

On the day after the riots ended, David Cameron said: 'For too long we've taken a too soft attitude towards people that loot and pillage their own community. If you do that you should lose your right to the sort of housing that you've had at subsidised rates.'

He added: 'Obviously, that will mean they've got to be housed somewhere else. They'll have to find housing in the private sector and that will be tougher for them, but they should have thought of that before they started burgling.'

Mr Pickles said he believed those caught rioting should be 'deemed to have wilfully made themselves homeless' and councils had no duty to house them. He added: 'That may sound a little harsh, but I don't think this is a time to pussyfoot around.'

But last November, research by The Daily Telegraph newspaper revealed a total of 252 council tenants across fifteen local authorities had been identified as taking part in the disorder - in which five people died and thousands clashed with police amid widespread violence and looting.

Of these, 12 left their homes, six surrendered their properties voluntarily and five were already facing eviction for anti-social behaviour, rent arrears or drug offences.

But many London boroughs and other authorities where rioting broke out were thought to be wary of breaching their statutory responsibility to house the homeless in their area, and the risk of evicting residents only to re-house them again shortly after.

Clapham Junction area was targeted by looters at the height of the disturbances two years ago, but was subsequently restored to order by a group of community volunteers who were recruited using social media.

It took Wandsworth's housing department more than a year of legal proceedings to effect Mr Mason's eviction after the Inner London Crown Court found him guilty of burglary and imposed a three year prison sentence on 12 September 2012.  Wandsworth tenants are required to sign an agreement that household members who engage in criminal or anti-social behavour are liable to be evicted.

At the same time, the borough's finance department was seeking his removal on account of rent arrears amounting to £5,695.

A judge granted an eviction order on 12 July giving Mr Mason up to 28 days to launch an appeal or vacate the flat.

Wandsworth's housing spokesman Cllr Paul Ellis said it was extremely unlikely that Mr Mason would be re-housed by any other council or housing association.

‘He will have to stand on his own two feet and arrange his own accommodation from now on. This is the price he must pay for his actions that night.'

Cllr Ellis added: ‘The date of today's eviction is nothing more than pure coincidence, but it does serve as a timely reminder that here in this borough we make no apology whatsoever for taking a tough stance with those who choose to engage in serious criminality. We have no room on our estates for looters, rioters and those who refuse to pay their rent.'