It would be easy to believe there was an epidemic of youth crime on Merseyside, as elsewhere in the country.
The ECHO reported last week that a Liverpool schoolgirl was knifed by a 14-year-old boy after his friends accused him of being “too scared to stab a girl.”
However, police cautions for children by Merseyside Police have dropped compared to 10 years ago.
Earlier this year a study found that children as young as 10 had been cautioned for possessing a blade.
In response, Merseyside Police said it had been working hard with agencies such as youth offending services to tackle the reasons young people become involved in crime and to prevent re-offending.
There were 13 cautions for 10 and 11-year-old by Merseyside Police last year, with two given for criminal damage, one for possession of a blade and one for theft of a pedal cycle, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice.
Police also gave 117 cautions to 12 to 14-year-olds in 2014, including for rape of a boy aged under 13, sexual assault on a girl under 13 and a firearms offence.
There were 87 cautions given to 15-year-olds, including for possession of a firearm, assaulting a police officer and six shoplifting offences.
Here are just some of the crimes involving youths which we have reported on in 2015.
Tragedy after gang pelted home
Donald Campbell’s house in Adlam Road, Fazakerley
A retired prison officer died after confronting a gang of youths who pelted mud and apples at his home, an inquest heard.
A coroner ruled that it was “very likely” that 64-year-old Donald Campbell’s death from heart failure was brought on by the stress of the situation.
Mr Campbell collapsed and died just seconds after the group of children were chased off by a neighbour in Adlam Road, Fazakerley, on September 2.
Young yobs attack student house
A gang of hooligans, aged around 12, went on a rampage of anti-social behaviour – throwing a brick through a window, setting fire to three bins and posting fireworks through the letterbox of a student house in Kensington.
The yobs were caught on camera as they pelted the house with stones and other missiles.
Buses hit with bricks
Youths launched bricks and eggs at buses and people in Wirral on Mischief Night
A number of buses, carrying members of the public, were smashed in by bricks and other missiles thrown at them by yobs.
Youngsters were also reported to be causing havoc on streets in Leasowe where eyewitnesses said yobs were throwing eggs, bricks and even potatoes at oncoming traffic.
Shopkeeper’s car smashed up
A Garston shopkeeper was racially abused by a group of yobs before a 16-year-old boy smashed up his Mercedes car with a golf club.
The 16-year-old boy, also from the Garston area, had been due to stand trial for affray and racially aggravated criminal damage at Liverpool Youth Court, but entered a late guilty plea to both charges.
Teenager ‘did not care’ if stabbed man died
Stabbing ordeal: Wellington Road, Wavertree
A Wavertree teenager plunged a knife into a stranger’s leg for no reason – before telling police he “felt nothing” towards his victim and “did not care” if he died.
Alan Hassell, 50, was making his way home from a doctor’s appointment in October when 17-year-old Honza Olah approached him from behind and stabbed him in the thigh with a seven-inch blade.
The youth, from the Wavertree area, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and possession of a knife and was locked up for four years.
Burglary staged after £23k car crash
A panicking teenager staged a burglary to cover his tracks after crashing his dad’s £23,000 Volvo and leaving two people in hospital.
The 17-year-old, from Widnes, ran away from the scene of the crash at the junction of Druids Cross Road and Menlove Avenue, Mossley Hill, before getting a taxi home and staging a break-in to make it look like the car had been stolen.
He pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking causing injury by accident, perverting the course of justice and driving without insurance at Liverpool Youth Court.
Football hooligan glassed man
A teenage football hooligan smashed a glass into a man’s face as around 30 Everton fans clashed with Newcastle United and Hull FC fans outside a London pub.
The 16-year-old boy, from Maghull, and a 17-year-old boy, from Everton, were caught on CCTV cameras taking part in a mass brawl which saw bottles and glasses hurled across a busy street.
Liverpool Youth Court heard serious violence broke out outside Miller’s Pub in Caledonia Street, near King’s Cross Station in London, on May 16 after Everton had taken on West Ham United.
16-year-old left fighting for life after stabbing
(From left to right): Anthony Swainbank, 16; Scott Fergie, 18; Matthew McLeod, 18
Three teenagers were convicted over the stabbing of a schoolboy in Halewood.
The 16-year-victim was left fighting for his life after suffering serious stab wounds to his chest, abdomen and back on March 9 this year.
Scott Fergie, 18, Matthew McLeod, 18, and another 16-year-old boy all denied attempted murder and a jury found them not guilty of the charge after a two week trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted the wounding with intent of the victim and two of his friends.
Fergie, of Oxford Road, Huyton, and McLeod, of Bracknell Avenue, Kirkby, denied wounding with and without intent but the jury delivered a majority verdict of 11-1 finding them guilty of wounding with intent on three counts.
Stolen car driven at police
Teenage car thieves drove a stolen BMW at a police car at the end of a 90mph chase though busy streets.
The youths, aged 16, skidded away from the police vehicle at the last second causing a terrified officer to shout “they’re coming straight at us” over his radio.
The pair, from Anfield and Old Swan, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking with dangerous driving at Liverpool Youth Court in July.
The court heard they drove so dangerously that police were forced to temporarily abandon the chase in the interests of public safety.
Hydrant attack left homes without water
Pictures taken from CCTV footage of yobs setting off water hydrants on Brompton Avenue, Wallasey
Yobs sent water shooting 3ft into the air after vandalising hydrants on a Wallasey street.
Footage shot over two days showed youths – believed to be as young as 12 – using tools to set off the hydrants on Brompton Avenue over the summer.
It left residents without water for several hours, with firefighters being called in to deal with the problem and United Utilities having to send engineers out.
Narrow escape for street cleaners
Biffa street cleaners working in Birkenhead were shot at by children with ball bearing guns
Two Wirral street cleaners narrowly escaped being blinded after youths fired ball bearings at them as they started their shift.
The Biffa cleaners left their vehicle to start work on Bentinck Place, Birkenhead, when they were attacked by two youths firing ball bearing shots at them.
Two of the cleaning crew were hit on the head and neck by the children, who appeared to be aged between 10 and 13.
Graves damaged in cemetery rampage
Three youths, aged 11, 14 and 16, all from Birkenhead, were each charged with damaging gravestones, statues and graveyard fittings at Wirral’s Flaybrick memorial gardens on May 22 last year, causing £300,000 of damage.
Reports that more than 100 gravestones and memorials had been vandalised at the site, on Tollemache Road, Bidston, were first made to police the following day.
Teens held up shop with knife
A mum and daughter were confronted by knife-wielding thugs in a terrifying raid at a late-night Merseyside convenience store.
Two boys, believed to be aged about 16 and dressed in black, raided the Local Mini Mart shop in Seaforth in early January.
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/