Fears that riots could spread to Norwich and Norfolk failed to materialise last night, but there was an increased police presence on the streets.

Policing patrols were stepped up around the county by Norfolk police, with Safer Neighbourhood Teams asked to deliver reassurance messages to their communities.

Specialist police officers from Norfolk sent specialist officers down to London to help restore order and it appeared to have paid off, with a quieter night in the capital after three nights of looting and violence.

But in Norfolk there were no riots, although there was a steady stream of misinformation on the social networking site Twitter.

Some users posted that the riots had arrived in Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, with claims that Anglia Square and PC World in the city had been looted. None of that was true.

And users rounded on one person who tweeted his disappointment that the riots had not come to Norwich, with the hash tag of #burnthecathedral.

Other users told him they had reported him to the police and his message was quickly deleted.

Another wag doctored an image of an EDP bill to create a headline that riots had arrived in Norwich - a bin had been pushed into the middle of the road.

Meanwhile, shops in one of Norwich's most elegant shopping streets closed early last night following concerns about civil unrest in London.

Gates at the complex, off Gentleman's Walk, closed early following a message from landlords Legal and General.

John Fielding, managing director of Langleys Toymaster, in the Royal Arcade, said: 'We were told to close early because the landlords have told the caretaker to the arcade to close the gates early. The landlords are based in London and I suppose if I was based in London I would be a bit more worried about the situation.

'However, this isn't London and I think they're being over cautious and over zealous.'

There was unrest in other parts of the country last night, particularly in Manchester and the Midlands.

Prime Minister David Cameron flew back from his holiday early to join police chiefs in warning rioters they would face the full weight of the law.

He will chair another meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee today.

Since the violence erupted on Saturday night 768 arrests have been made in connection with rioting and looting, with 81 arrests last night Scotland Yard said. Of those 111 have been charged.

While London was relatively calm last night, outbreaks of looting, arson and violence broke out in Manchester, Salford, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Nottingham and Wolverhampton.

Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said 'criminals have brought shame in particular on the streets of Salford and Manchester' after sporadic looting broke out in the cities.

Hundreds of masked and hooded youths played cat and mouse with police looting shops, smashing windows and starting fires.

And in Liverpool around 200 missile-throwing youths have gathered in the south Liverpool area of Toxteth causing disorder and damage, Merseyside Police said.

There were similar scenes in the West Midlands with police making 80 arrests. Shops, including a branch of Marks & Spencer and a hi-fi store, were again targeted in Birmingham.

A murder investigation has been launched after three men died in a road crash in Birmingham, West Midlands Police said.

The men were pedestrians hit by a car in the Winson Green area of the city at 1am, according to reports.

Police said one man had been arrested in connection with the deaths and a car had been recovered.

In West Bromwich there were reports of a large group of people in the town centre and two vehicles being set on fire.

And police in Wolverhampton responded to reports of a large group of people in the city centre after shops were damaged.

A murder investigation has been launched after two men were killed and one critically injured in a road crash in Birmingham, West Midlands Police said.

In Nottingham a police station was firebombed and police in Leicester had to deal with groups of youths.

There were also small outbreaks of disorder reported by Thames Valley Police in Reading, Oxford and Milton Keynes.

There was also trouble in the south west, with police coming under attack from gangs of youths.

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

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

The violence first erupted in Tottenham, north London, on Saturday night after a peaceful protest over the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan, 29, last Thursday.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) confirmed yesterday there was no evidence that Mr Duggan fired at officers before he was shot in the chest.