London police blame truants for street crime

Statistics released by the police in London show that forty-per-cent of all street robberies and a third of car thefts and house burglaries in the city are committed by children aged between ten and sixteen.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Condon told a newly-created unit advising the government on urban poverty that most of the offences occurred during school hours when the children involved were playing truant.

A government minister Stephen Byers attached to the unit says other statistics show many young offenders cannot read and write properly, become disenchanted with school and fall into crime.

He said urgent action was needed to bring such children back into school.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service