One of Wandsworth's worst-hit areas during August's riots was left without a single police officer for more than an hour, according to an independent review.

The 'Disorder in Wandsworth' report discovered that police were withdrawn from St John's Hill, in Battersea, because the borough commander's priority was to "preserve human life".

It states there were more than 300 looters in the Lavender Hill/St John's Road area, at 8pm on August 8, with just eight officers - one sergeant and seven constables - with public order training at the scene.

The report, compiled by Neil Kinghan but commissioned by Wandsworth Council, found the officers left the Lavender Hill/St John's Road area at 9.08pm and did not return until 10.38pm.

In the report Mr Kinghan states: "Some residents consider that the judgement shown by the police was just right and avoided turning a bad event into a total disaster.

"There was serious damage but no one was seriously hurt - much worse might have followed a battle between looters and the police.

"Others think that the police and their higher command should have taken different decisions and the withdrawal of the police left them abandoned and unprotected until order was restored several hours later."

Although there are 60 officers with public order training in Wandsworth, the majority had been dispatched to Tottenham to deal with trouble in north-east London.

Mr Kinghan also asks why armoured vehicles did not arrive until after midnight, by which time most shops had been looted and the culprits had left the area.

But he also sympathised with the police, as did many residents, who felt they were "damned if they took firm action, damned if they did not".

The report concluded: "With the resources available, it seems that the police did the best they could. The issue for the Metropolitan Police is funding - should higher priority be given to training police to deal with outbreaks of public disorder?"

Across Wandsworth 109 shops and businesses were attacked, many windows were broken and large numbers of electrical goods, mobile phones and items of clothing were stolen.

More than 150 people have been arrested and 71 have been charged.

Read the full report at ww3.wandsworth.gov.uk/moderngov/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=15102