Hundreds of people were arrested as violence swept the length and breadth of England during a fourth consecutive night of rioting.

As ugly scenes of looting spread to Manchester, Nottingham and Birmingham overnight, three men died after being hit by a car in the country's second city.

West Midlands Police launched a murder inquiry after the trio were struck in Winson Green at 1am.

Trouble also erupted in areas including Liverpool, Salford, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Bristol and Gloucester.

A beefed-up presence of 16,000 officers patrolling the capital resulted in a quieter night across London, with 81 arrests, taking the total detained by Scotland Yard since Saturday night to 768.

Of those, 167 have been charged, the Met said.

For the second day running, Prime Minister David Cameron, who returned early from holiday to deal with the crisis, will chair another meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee to discuss the worsening situation.

Until last night Manchester had remained untouched by the violence which has devastated communities.

But hundreds of marauding thugs descended on the city where they torched a shop, smashed up businesses and looted, bringing "shame in particular on the streets of Salford and Manchester", said Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan.

Officers arrested 108 people after hooded youths played cat and mouse with riot officers.

West Midlands Police said they had made a total of 109 arrests following scenes of disorder in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and West Bromwich.

Shops, including a branch of Marks & Spencer and a hi-fi store, were again targeted in Birmingham with reports of a gun being fired, while there were reports of large groups of people in West Bromwich town centre and vehicles being set on fire.

Police in Wolverhampton were called to reports of a large group of people in the city centre after shops were attacked.

A mob firebombed a Nottingham police station and college with more than 90 troublemakers arrested, while in Leicester officers arrested 13 people following trouble in the city centre.

There was also alarm in the South West with gangs of youths attacking police.

In Gloucester city centre, mounted officers were deployed to combat groups of youths attacking shop windows, some with their faces covered, while a significant fire also broke out in the Brunswick area. Three arrests were made.

And in Bristol, police arrested 19 people following a second night of trouble.

There were also small outbreaks of disorder reported by Thames Valley Police in Reading, Oxford and Milton Keynes, while 200 missile-throwing youths gathered in the south Liverpool area of Toxteth causing disorder and damage, according to Merseyside Police.

The force said a total of 50 arrests were made overnight.

Businesses and shops across London shut down early in a bid to avoid attack from the gangs of youths who ransacked buildings across the city over the previous days.

Many firms also sent staff home amid fears that rioters could attack again.

The Metropolitan Police flooded the streets with 16,000 officers - nearly three times as many as were on duty on Monday night - to quash concerns that they were losing control of parts of the capital.