Fungus The Bogeyman
BRITAIN is in the grip of an “appalling” teenage yob crimewave, Home Secretary Charles Clarke admitted yesterday.
One in four boys between 14 and 17 is a serious or regular offender, a shock government report revealed.
A hardcore of half a million young louts are to blame for rising street crime, owning up to offences ranging from burglary and drug-dealing to muggings and assault.
Mr Clarke said the figures showed the need to crack down on young offenders and “hammer alcohol-related crime”.
He added: “This is an appalling statistic. Anybody who goes into any of our city centre streets on a Friday or Saturday night has to admit there is a major problem that must be addressed. We are focusing hard on tackling the number of young offenders.
“We must really hammer alcohol-related crime if we don’t want to build a massive problem for the future. There is absolutely no doubt that this is a very serious issue, both for health and social reasons.”
The alarming growth of Britain’s yob culture was laid bare in official crime figures published yesterday.
They showed recorded violence was up six per cent in the three months to September.
The Home Office study classified 24 per cent of boys aged 14 to 17 as “serious or prolific offenders”.
About one girl in eight — 13 per cent — fell in the same bracket.
The figures mean more than 510,000 youths have committed one or more major crimes or at least six less serious in the past year.
In a further blow, 29 per cent of young people admitted to being involved in anti-social behaviour.
And a third of under-16s said they had been victims of crime during the last 12 months.
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