Children as young as 10 arrested for rape, child abuse images and murder, shocking figures reveal

20 May 2023, 14:54

A child as young as 10 was arrested for rape as shocking new statistics reveal the extent of serious crime police deal with among Britain's children.

The figures, which are for the five year period between 2018 and 2023, show two 10-year-olds were arrested for rape in Lancashire and Kent, while a 12-year-old girl was arrested for murder in Cambridgeshire.

Police in Kent detained a 12-year-old for raping a boy under the age of 13 and had sexual activity with other children. The youngster was also arrested for assault and robbery.

Two children aged between 10 and 15 were arrested for kidnap in Surrey.

Five had child abuse images and two were caught with loaded guns, figures obtained by The Sun show.

West Midlands Police arrested three children aged 12 and 13 for murder.

Among the other appalling findings are West Mercia Police detaining 19 children aged under 16 for murder, one as young as 12.

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That force has also arrested a 10-year-old boy for assaulting a police officer. The same happened in Wiltshire.

Derbyshire dealt with bomb hoaxes involving children as young as ten, while Avon and Somerset Police took a child into custody for sexual activity with a relative.

A total of 10 children aged under 16 were arrested in Cumbria for their alleged role in a fraud scheme revolving around the lottery, dating scams and fake holiday lets.

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North Wales was among the worst areas for youth crime, with 285 arrests of children aged 10 to 13 over the five years.

Cleveland Police, in Teesside, arrested 48 children aged 10 or 11 in that same period.

In total, more than 75,000 children have been arrested since 2018. Among the offences were crimes relating to heroin and robbery – the latter seeing a nine-year-old get detained in Lancashire.

Children did not have further action taken against them – they are usually directed to support services instead.

"We are determined to tackle the underlying causes of serious youth crime," a Home Office spokesperson said.

"We do this through a twin-track approach, combining tough enforcement measures with early intervention and prevention programmes to divert young people away from crime.

"This includes our £200 million Youth Endowment Fund which aims to give young people most at risk the opportunity to turn away from violence."