Children Age Seven n Eight Suspect Of Rape

According to Skynews, wo children, aged seven and eight, were suspected of rape by police last year, figures show. 

Their alleged victims were both children themselves, according to the data released by Greater Manchester Police.

Neither of the boys can be charged or taken to court because they are under 10 years old - the age of criminal responsibility.

The seven-year-old was suspected of raping a girl under 13, while the eight-year-old was suspected of raping a girl under 16.

Both alleged incidents happened in the Greater Manchester area.

Detective Superintendent Jon Chadwick told the Manchester Evening News: "It can be upsetting for the victims of these crimes because the normal situation of a court case, most of the time, cannot happen."

He added: "It is always upsetting when very young children are involved in crime and that is why there is a communal responsibility for all agencies to respond, not just to the needs of the victim, but also the offender.

"A child does not just go out and commit a crime; there are a whole host of influences that can lead to an incident occurring."

The two cases were among nearly 1,000 incidents in which children were suspected of committing crimes over the last three years, all released by police under the Freedom of Information Act.

Other significant cases included a nine-year-old girl with a blade at school and a six-year-old caught with cannabis.

Eighty-eight of the cases, involving 119 suspects, were race or religious hate crimes, the figures showed.

Police and crime commissioner for Greater Manchester Tony Lloyd said: "We are all rightly shocked when young children are involved in any criminal behaviour, all the more so when the crimes are serious.

"But what we cannot do is walk away and abandon those children and the community they live in to more crime and more victims."

Skynews