More mis-information from the Telegraph - London riots

Providing another typical example of deliberate journalistic mis-information, the Telegraph online (a serial offender) has reported that:

'Average London rioter had 15 previous offences, figures show' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8764809/Average-London-rioter-had-15-previous-offences-figures-show.html

Of course, what they actually mean is that the average london rioter who was referred to the courts by the police had an average of 15 previous offences. Which of course makes sense, because the police are unlikely to refer someone to the courts with few prior offences (although 15 does sound rather large). The statement that the average London rioter had at least 15 previous offences is completely incorrect.

It is very frustrating when papers such as the Telegraph deliberately use mis-information and decieve their readers with selectively chosen statistics to promote their own interests, which in the case of the Telegraph is its politically right-wing stance that rioters are simply criminals and should be locked up in jail (as opposed to the poor and disenchanted in society rioting against the system).

As expected, it is not possible to make comments at the bottom of the article in order to challenge the author. You would hope that a reputable newspaper would be interested in promoting transparency and debate, but this simply does not apply to the Telegraph.