Revealed: The Leeds children aged as young as THREE suspected of crimes

Nearly 200 young children were suspected of committing crimes across the district last year but could not be prosecuted because they are under the age of criminal responsibility.

Half of these offences were violent crimes, police data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows.

The young people suspected of crimes last year included a three-year-old suspected of a violent crime, a five-year-old and a six-year-old jointly suspected of a sexual offence and a four-year-old suspected of criminal damage.

Police say they are now recording all crimes by under 10s, whereas in previous years they may have been recorded as ‘no crime’, meaning the true extent of offending by young children is only now being revealed.

But with offending by those aged 10 to 17 also on the rise in West Yorkshire, Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson has said cuts to youth services are having an impact on crime.

He said: “There is no question that youth crime generally, pre- and post-10 years old, has been exacerbated by the significant cuts to public services across the board, both locally and nationally, as tackling the related issues are quite complex and often includes a host of partner agencies.

“Police involvement with children under 10 years old is a last resort but becoming more necessary due to the gaps in other services.”

Mr Burns-Williamson said in the past couple of weeks he had given out £210,000 in funding to 49 groups working to tackle violent crime.

He said: “However, we really do now need to see sustained investment from the Government back into public services.

“That is something I will continue to fight for, but turning these things around takes time and needs longer-term solutions if this worrying trend is to be halted, which is in all our interests.”

Crimes by under-10s remains a tiny fraction of all youth offending.

Across West Yorkshire, there were 617 crimes recorded last year where the suspect or suspects were under 10.

In comparison, there were more than 25,000 cases involving suspects aged 10 to 17.

Detective Superintendent Jon Morgan, of West Yorkshire Police’s Safeguarding Central Governance Unit, said: “To put these figures in context, offences involving suspects under 10 years old make up an extremely small percentage of overall crime.

“As part of our victim-centred approach, we record all crimes - even where the suspect is immediately identified as a child under the age of 10.

“Previously, these offences would either be no-crimed or marked as ‘undetected’ but since June 2014, in accordance with revised Home Office guidelines, we now finalise such offences as ‘outcome 11’ - prosecution prevented, suspect too young.

“This has resulted in an increase in recorded crimes with suspects under 10 years old but I would stress that we have not seen any marked increase in actual offences in this time.

“While a suspect under the age of 10 is under the age of criminal responsibility and therefore will not be subject to the criminal justice process, alongside partner agencies, we will work with them and their parents to address the causes and motivations of their offending.”