A six-year-old boy was accused of rape, according to new figures that revealed children under 10 were alleged to have carried out 20,000 crimes in six years.

Among that figure are children as young as five being suspected of carrying out sexual assaults.

They’ve also been accused of arson, threats to kill, possession of firearms and racially aggravated common assault. However, because of their age they cannot be charged with committing a criminal offence.

Data released by 30 of the 45 police forces that serve England and Wales show that the number of crimes by children under 10 has risen from 1,917 offences in 2012, to 4,209 in 2016.

So far in 2017, police have identified 3,631 young suspects. They can’t face prosecution but can be given a curfew, a child safety order or be taken into care by social services.

The figures were released as a bill was put forward to raise the age of criminal responsibility in the UK from 10 to 12 – meaning the likes of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson would not face the same action.

Solicitor Laurence Lee, who represented 10-year-old Jon Venables in the James Bulger murder case in 1993, said increasing the age limit would be ‘mad.’

He said: “To raise it would be absolutely absurd. I’ll tell you now, if they were to raise it, so many 10- and 11-year-olds would be laughing their socks off.

“What would happen is older criminals would just get the 10- and 11-year-olds to do the ‘shooting.’”

Mr. Lee argued a solution could be a two-tier system, where minor crimes are dealt with in the current manner, but more serious crimes should be prosecuted.

He said: “I don’t believe that every 10-year-old that shoplifts should be arrested, in fact they never are.

“Ten is about right at the moment. The criminal age of responsibility should always be monitored, perhaps on a yearly basis, and if society does get worse, then it has to be looked at periodically.”

In Merseyside, children were mainly linked to drug-related crimes and even the possession of firearms. The rate of sexually related crimes in the area has also risen dramatically over the past six years, increasing from four alleged offences in 2012 to 24 so far this year.

Cambridgeshire Police’s figures revealed an alleged three-year-old thief as well as five-year-olds suspected of sexual assault on children under the age of 13.

The report from Humberside Police showed that the most common age of suspected criminals was nine years old, with 184 of the 401 children’s crimes from the past six years linked to the age group.

At 10 years old, the national age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is one of the lowest ages in Western Europe. Scotland did have the youngest age at eight years old; but last year, the Scottish government decided to raise it to 12.

(Metro)

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