The father of one of the men who died during the Birmingham riots has appealed for calm, after eight men were cleared of murdering his son and his friends.

Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir were run down in an incident involving three cars in the Winson Green area of the city.

On Thursday, a jury found the accused not guilty.

Ryan Goodwin, Shaun Flynn, Juan Ruiz-Gaviria, Joshua Donald, Everton Graham, Adam King, Ian Beckford and Aaron Parkins were cleared of three counts of murder each by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court today after just over four hours of deliberations.

After the verdicts, trial judge Mr Justice Flaux urged people to respect the jury's findings.

He said: "On any view, this has been a terrible case - a tragic and pointless loss of three young lives.

"However, by their verdicts the jury have decided that this was not a deliberate killing, that there was no plan to kill these three young men.

"The jury have decided that this was a terrible accident. It is important that however strong feelings are within the community in Winson Green and adjacent areas, that calm is maintained and that these verdicts are respected.

"Any other action would not be honouring those who died. In fact, quite the reverse. What happened on the streets of Birmingham and other cities last August should never be repeated."

Speaking on behalf of both families, Tariq Jahan said: "I would like to appeal for peace and calm in our community in light of today's verdicts."

He added: "The families do not wish to make any comment regarding the court case at this time and would ask the media to respect their privacy."