One-year-old baby girl named crime suspect by police
Infant’s details kept on file as force reveals more than 600 under-10s reported to officers in Kent
Telegraph Reporters
Published 18 May 2026 2:53pm BST
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A one-year-old girl is among hundreds of children in Kent to be recorded as suspects for crimes.
A total of 683 children aged nine or younger were reported to the force in a three-year period for offences including assault, burglary, arson and sexual offending.
The age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10, so none of them would have faced prosecution or court proceedings.
It is understood the baby girl was reported to the police after she was allegedly involved in an incident that left a toddler with a minor injury.
Six two-year-olds, 11 three-year-olds and 20 four-year-olds were reported to Kent Police from January 2023 to December 2025, according to statistics released following a freedom of information request.
Most under-10s reports for alleged violence
Paul Webb, Kent county council’s cabinet member for children’s services, said he was surprised by the number of under-10s involved and that reports involved toddlers.
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He said: “It’s not great. But we support children of all ages through our prevention programme. We try to get them as early as possible, really help them through our services and talk with parents.”
The figures showed 76 per cent of children linked to offending across the three-year period were boys, and that violence against another person accounted for the highest number of reports.
A total of 130 sexual offences involving children under nine were reported. Child-on-child sexual abuse is recognised nationally as a safeguarding issue, with schools and councils required to monitor for it.
Government guidance states that reports of rape or sexual assault should be referred to police regardless of the age of the alleged perpetrator.
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Kent Police said all incidents reported to officers must be logged under Home Office rules, even when the child involved was below the age of criminal responsibility or where no further action was considered appropriate.
Ch Supt Rob Marsh, head of Kent Police’s Strategic Prevention Command, said: “We can receive reports of crimes by children from various sources, including victims, family members or schools and other agencies.”
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When children below the age of criminal responsibility come to the attention of the police, officers and partner agencies instead focus on safeguarding, prevention and family support. Measures can include restorative justice, educational work, curfews and referrals to social services.
Mr Marsh said the force’s child-centred policing teams focused on “prevention, deterrence and education” while its violence reduction unit worked with partners on “targeted initiatives to divert young people away from criminality”.
He added: “Our focus is very much on understanding what has caused a child to become involved in crime so that this can be addressed, often through work with partners to provide effective support measures.”
Drugs gangs ‘largely to blame’
Police may speak to parents or issue local child curfews. Other out-of-court interventions can include community resolutions or youth conditional cautions.
Mr Webb said county lines drug gangs were largely to blame for rising levels of child crime as they often targeted vulnerable children for recruitment, particularly those in care.
He said: “This is a big problem we’ve seen not just in Kent, but across the South East in particular. It’s something we work very, very closely on with social services, with the police, and all of our children’s homes.”
While the age of criminal responsibility is 10 in England and Wales, it is 12 in Scotland. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended countries place it at 14 or above.
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