Police call for six-year-old to confess to crimes

A letter to Peter Akers left his mother with a simple choice - get her son to phone the police and confess his crimes or watch him face the consequences.

But first he would need permission to make the call. After all, he was only six.

Ms Akers, of Mayvale Grove, Derby, said the letter, sent out as part of a batch to encourage known criminals to confess their crimes, had been amusing at first, but then alarming.

The letter from officers in charge of Operation Relentless, a police campaign to target crimes which most affect communities, told Peter that he had one last chance to contact them before further action was taken.



It offered him the possibility of a "fresh start" if he confessed and suggested there was a chance he could receive a drug treatment order instead of a full sentence.

Ms Akers, 39, said: "He hadn't tidied his room from the night before, so I was going to take him down to the police station to get a confession."

Peter said: "The only thing I've done wrong recently is when I stole some sweets from my sister's room."

Police have now contacted Ms Akers about the incident and made a full apology. Detective Sergeant, Paul Callum, of Pear Tree CID, said: "We had no idea that her son was six and one of our officers went round to the house to apologise."