Children under 10 suspected of 3,000 crimes

LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of crimes went unpunished in England and Wales last year because the suspects were too young to be prosecuted, it was reported on Sunday.

Children under 10 were suspected of having carried out 2,840 crimes, about half of which were cases of arson or criminal damage.

But there were also 66 sex offences, some against children under 13, for which they were the main suspects.

They were also thought to be responsible for harassment, wounding and burglary.

The age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10 and over.

It has intensified the debate as to whether the criminal age should be raised or not.

The figures, based on data from 32 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, were obtained by BBC Radio Five Live under the Freedom of Information Act.

As a proportion of total crime, the numbers are small, the BBC said.

Home Office figures show there were 5.5 million incidents reported to the police during the same period.