The sister of murdered pensioner Richard Mannington Bowes has said she forgives the teen who killed her brother during the summer riots, after he was locked up for eight years.
Darrell Desuze, 17, punched the elderly man to the ground as disturbances swept the country on 8 August last year.
Bowes, who had been trying to put out a fire in a dustbin near his home in Ealing, west London, suffered brain damage and died three days later in hospital.
Desuze, who was 16 at the time, was sentenced to eight years' detention at Inner London Crown Court on Tuesday, while his mother Lavinia was jailed for 18 months for perverting the course of justice by getting rid of the clothes he wore that night.
Mannington Bowes' sister, Anne Wilderspin, who travelled from Derbyshire for the hearing on Tuesday, said she forgave Desuze for killing her brother.
She said although she had been separated from Mannington Bowes for many years, she hoped for a reconciliation, which the teenager had "permanently denied".
"I was completely devastated that I had found my brother and lost him again on the same day," she said.
But she said justice had been served and some months ago had decided to forgive Desuze.
"Darrell and his mother have blown their prospects as regards opportunities for future employment. Their integrity is hopelessly damaged.
"I hope and pray that they will now have the opportunity to look at their lifestyles in a different light so as to find a new purpose in life."
Desuze - who once enjoyed a school trip to the Metropolitan Police's riot training centre in Gravesend, Kent, where he watched a simulated riot - was caught on camera kicking in a shopping centre's glass doors before joining a mob that attacked heavily outnumbered police with missiles around Spring Bridge Road.
Wearing a distinctive top saying "Robbers and Villains", he punched Mr Bowes in the jaw, knocking him unconscious.
The pensioner fell backwards on to the pavement and his head took the full force of the impact on the road.
It was several minutes before police could get to the pensioner, because of the violent scenes around him.
Desuze previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter, as well as a charge of violent disorder and four counts of burglary.
His 31-year-old mother was found guilty by a jury of perverting the course of justice, and was jailed for 18 months for destroying and disposing of the distinctive clothing her son wore that night.
Sentencing Darrell Desuze, Mr Justice Saunders said he "played a full part" in the violence that day.
He said most people were afraid to go out and those caught up in the riots would have been "terrified".
"One person who was not terrified to be out and was not prepared to be forced off the streets was Richard Mannington Bowes," he said.
He said the pensioner could be seen passing through rioters and trying to prevent fires that had been started in wheelie bins from spreading, and the punch that felled him could be seen on CCTV, which showed him falling to the ground.
"The death of Mr Bowes was pointless and unnecessary and it became for the public one of the most, if not the most, shocking event of the riots in London," he added.
The judge said Desuze helped move Mr Bowes' body on to the pavement, but that also meant he knew he had caused him serious injury. He said the teenager had also gone on to loot four shops.
Jailing Lavinia Desuze for 18 months, the judge said he felt some sympathy for her.
Desuze was sentenced to eight years' detention at Inner London Crown Court on Tuesday
But at the time she destroyed the clothing she was aware another man had been arrested and she had increased the chance of him being wrongly prosecuted, he said.
"On the jury's verdict, even though she committed a very serious offence, she did so to protect her young son to whom she had given birth when she was only 14 and who she had looked after as a single mother for most of his life...", he said.
"I accept that the instinct of a mother to protect her child is a very powerful one."
Mitigating for Darrell Desuze, Nicholas Valios QC said the teenager had no previous convictions and had "genuine and sincere" remorse for his actions.
Harold Persaud, for Lavinia Desuze, said her attempts to pervert the course of justice had ultimately proved unsuccessful and she had gone on to co-operate with police.
"She has not been able to come to terms and to deal with the fact that her son has taken someone's life and committed manslaughter," he said.
He said for both she and her son, his actions would continue to affect both of them long after they were released from prison.
After the case Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Rowell, borough commander at Ealing, said they continued to investigate and pursue those involved in rioting.
He said: "We have already examined hundreds of hours of CCTV and continue to do so, this will inevitably lead to further arrests in the near future.
"Mr Mannington Bowes was an innocent man trying to do the decent and honest thing of protecting life and property. Tragically he lost his life whilst doing so."