Children as young as 10 arrested for violent and sexual offences
CHILDREN as young as ten are being arrested in Croydon for offences including sexual assault, robbery and arson.
Since the beginning of 2010, 155 juveniles aged 12 and under have been arrested for a variety of crimes – including an 11-year-old on suspicion of committing fraud and a 12-year-old boy for rape.
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Picture posed by model
Other arrests include an 11-year-old boy being caught by police who were investigating a charge of harassment and 12-year-old girls arrested on suspicion of causing ABH.
The figures, released after a request made under the Freedom of Information Act, show the number of young people arrested in the town from January 2010 to September this year.
In 2010, 108 people aged 12 and below were arrested for a range of offences, with 97 of these being boys. Young boys aged 12 were the worst offenders, with 71 arrested for offences such as robbery (20), ABH (five) and Class B drugs possession (two).
Eleven girls, aged 11 and 12, were arrested for offences including four for theft from a shop, one for ABH and another 11-year-old girl arrested for committing fraud.
Already this year, 47 young people aged 10, 11 and 12 have been arrested and detained by Croydon officers.
An 11-year-old girl was arrested after being caught in possession of drugs while another 11-year-old boy was taken to a police station when he was found carrying a knife.
Youth worker Shasha Khan said that the statistics are this high because of Croydon's "gang culture".
Mr Khan said: "This is a really young age to be involved in these sorts of crimes, it is shocking.
"Minors are part of the gangs because if they are caught it is likely they will get a lesser sentence because of their age.
"Children aged around 12 are likely to be impressionable and if they have no father figures at home, they may look to gang members as role models and they will want to impress.
"We need to have skilled youth workers around. They are trained to spot these kind of kids and we need to interfere before they are too far in the gang."
Since January 2010, juveniles in Croydon have been arrested for offences including:
10-year-olds
3 common assaults
1 robbery
1 sexual offence
1 arson
11-year-olds
4 robberies
2 ABH
2 common assaults
1 fraud
1 affray
1 GBH
1 harassment
1 possession of a knife
12-year-olds
26 robberies
11 ABH
8 common assaults
3 possession of a knife
3 rapes
2 attempted rapes
1 possession of an imitation firearm







28 Comments
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by PrivateUser
Thursday, December 08 2011, 5:14PM
“Black kids always behave this way. They are the surviving offspring of generations of imported violent morons bred from thousands of years of rapist cannibals. You somehow imagine the genetic-psychopathy of the blacks of the USA magically vanished just by relocation? GOOGLE it up, Africa is the mass-murder & child rape & general rape center of the world, those genes of violent anti-human psychopathy have never been eliminated or bred away so how could they vanish just by physical relocation. You cannot "appease" those genetic-psychopathy genes away, you cannot feed them away, you cannot "punish" them away, you cannot fix these monsters by giving them free housing or merciful "breaks from the law".”
by Misterkipling
Tuesday, December 06 2011, 1:27PM
“Well if you have a 12 year old Rapist and still don't think he needs a slap, then you have problems.
And two attempted rapes too, lucky that ice cream van arrived to distract him eh
Personally if I saw the kid in the photo looking through my car window I would bounce the little angel's face off my car windows, and I'm including arriving there to find a complete photo shoot in progress and clearly my car not being broken into, but thats how they learn, and next time the kid is roaming the streets with a full photographic unit looking for cars the kid won't be too keen to go snooping will they”
by croydonhippo
Sunday, November 27 2011, 3:45PM
“all of this has come about because of people like wayne and waynetta slobb having masses of children and no money......it's time that the parents were held responsible....including paying for damage and repairs that their rubbishy offspring cause.....even if it means that they go without benefits for a month......if the parents won't listen then the only option left is for local council housing departments, housing associations and law courts to evict the offending family's swiftly, then send names and photo's of the evicted family's to all london borough council's and housing associations so that no one else will rehouse them.....there is far too many dysfunctional family's clogging up the social housing system and making normal tennants lives a complete and utter misery......i believe that this is the only way to smash gang culture and unruly behavior once and for all.....to stop housing benefit dependant, work shy, dysfunctional, soap dodgeing family's !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1”
by Moomoome
Sunday, November 27 2011, 10:04AM
“There is so much confusion over what kids should be these days no wonder they are going off the rails, one minute they are being told to grow up and act their age, the next minute they are told the should behave like kids....too much confusion, I think parents, teachers and the general public no longer know how we should treat kids and the kids themselves are too in as much turmoil.#ThisisChristmas”
by Krystal333
Friday, November 25 2011, 11:48PM
“verzz - what you write is very commendable, but please imagine how different the story may be when said son is say 15, taller and stronger than you and with a more questionable circle of friends. Do you think you saying "no" will stop him say, climbing out of a window if he is intent on going out? When he travels alone on buses he may well tell you he is one place - but will he always tell the truth.
I agree with the majority who have commented here, that for kids to behave like this, it's mainly due to poor parenting from a young age - but there are exceptions. Peer pressure and the wrong crowd' on kids bought up stable and well parented kids is also frequent.”
by tbabygib
Friday, November 25 2011, 11:05PM
“good on you. respect is whats needed.to know their place as kids, when an adult has rules, are rules, there is no way near enough of them, these days,”
by verzz
Friday, November 25 2011, 9:52PM
“I have a 12 year old boy. I know where he is every second of the day. I'm not afraid to go searching for him if he's 5 minutes late fron school, and embarrassing him if he's with friends (he's been late once, and he saw me coming up the hill looking for him, so he knows I'm not joking!).
The problem is parents having to work long hours to make ends meet, leaving the kids at the mercy of the streets. Also, parents who just don't have the energy to keep their children in check, especially when they are so clued up on the law.
As far as I'm concerned, the law is what takes place under my roof. My children observe the rules of MY house. I bring them up the correct way. However, if they decided that's not for them then see ya! And, if at anytime I see their face crop up on Crimewatch I'd shop their a.r.s.e big time. No-one is bringing shame on my family.”
by tbabygib
Friday, November 25 2011, 6:43PM
“Toddler's often hit out, but you tell them thats not nice and not to do it again, Older kids, can also, be told not to do it. then you get the 10 to 16 year olds, who are often taller than you, dressed to intimidate you, they touch you or your property, then I'm affair they Should be on the receiving end of a slap.!!!!!!!!! It's because of the lack of warnings or following though of warnings, that has brought the country to its knees. and not one Adult has the power,Not the the judges, as its in the kids hands.”
by Misterkipling
Friday, November 25 2011, 6:11PM
“Cars can indeed be replaced, you will pay to do it.
insurance will pay out far less than you think and then don't forget to take off your excess
they steal £50 of stuff and cause £450 of damage, regularly not worth claiming for because of the excess
I'm not suggesting hitting people with milk teeth either, I'm not just singling out by age either, if a 45 year old midget broke into my car then he would earn a slap too”
by CuppaTeaPlz
Friday, November 25 2011, 2:14PM
“It means we cant go round hitting kids. But if they break into your home, then force can be used.
Cars can be easily replaced, its an inconvenience yes, but not so important as your home.”