40 teenage girls convicted of violent crimes EVERY DAY as ladette culture soars

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Teenage girls are responsible for more than 40 violent attacks every day, it emerged yesterday.

The so-called ladettes, many of whom have been drinking, were responsible for 15,762 assaults and serious beatings last year, as well as more than 1,000 muggings.

Girls were also responsible for 5,748 incidents of criminal damage and almost 1,000 drugs offences, according to the Youth Justice Board.

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The most common crimes committed by girls were theft, violent attacks, criminal damage and 'public order' offences (picture posed by models)

There has now been a 25 per cent leap in offending by girls aged ten to 17 over a period of only three years. The YJB's Annual Workload Data report shows that girls committed 59,236 crimes in 2006/07, up from 47,358 in 2003/04.

This compares with a 2 per cent drop in crimes committed by young men over the same period, although they still commit the vast majority of crimes.

They were responsible for 235,893 crimes, including 40,500 violent attacks.

Overall, cases of violence by young people, ranging from common assault to murder, are up by 39 per cent over three years.

Another worrying statistic showed a reoffending rate among all teenage criminals of more than 37 per cent.

A target to cut reoffending by 5 per cent was missed.

The early age at which children are involved in serious crime was also revealed. Ten-year-olds were responsible for almost 50 crimes of arson, 64 burglaries, 16 robberies and 534 violent attacks.

But the emergence of a female crimewave is most likely to alarm police and Ministers.

The YJB said it was ordering a full study into why the rise had taken place.

Experts pointed to increased drinking by young girls as one factor, as well as changes in patterns of behaviour.

Elaine Arnull of London's South Bank University said: "The bigger picture is that behaviour is changing and there is a link between girls using alcohol and violence.

"It is not just that girls are going out and committing more offences.

"We think that the response to girls by agencies - schools, police, other people - has changed, so girls are possibly being prosecuted for offences they weren't being prosecuted for before.

"It is fights between girls, principally - things like fights at school that the police weren't called to in the past.

"Most offending by girls, especially violent offending, is of a very low level. It doesn't mean it's insignificant, but it is hair-pulling fights between girls."

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The most common crimes committed by girls were theft, violent attacks, criminal damage and 'public order' offences

Inspector Kevin Whipps, who heads the children and young people's unit at Essex Police, said: "In the past we haven't seen girls significantly being involved in crime.

"However, recently we have seen stealing things like cosmetics which are very easy to take. The onus is on the shops to stop that sort of thing going on."

Theft was the most common crime committed by girls, with 19,722 cases.

The report also reveals there has been an 85 per cent increase in the use of tagging for juvenile offenders over the past four years, while an average of 2,900 under-18s were in custody each day.

Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, said: "This is a shocking indictment of how Labour have failed to get a grip on crime and its causes, whether it be their decision to unleash 24-hour drinking on our towns and cities or their policies which have driven family breakdown.

"This teenage crime wave is causing absolute misery for law-abiding communities up and down the country.

"In addition, what kind of problems are we storing up for the future, with so many young people already being used to a life of crime?"

Earlier this month, the Daily Mail revealed how the number of binge-drinking female louts arrested for being drunk and disorderly has leapt ten-fold in parts of Britain over the past five years.

The increases - up by more than 50 per cent across the country - were blamed by police leaders on the Government's bitterly- controversial licensing reforms, which ushered in late-night and 24-hour drinking in pubs and clubs.

Chelsea O'Mahoney kicked a man's head 'like a football' and was jailed for manslaughter in 2006

She filmed her friends on her mobile phone as they battered bar manager David Morley, a survivor of the Soho bombings.

She then "kicked his head like a football" and gloated: "Pose for the camera."

Mr Morley, 37, who suffered a ruptured spleen, broken ribs and more than 40 bruises to his head and body, died 17 hours later.

He was one of eight victims of the gang in what an Old Bailey judge called an hour-long 'orgy of attacks'.

Brian Barker, the Common Serjeant of London, said O'Mahoney was "part of the group from first to last" and was "quite indifferent to the pain" her friends were inflicting.

She met the rest of the gang when she was sent to live with her aunt on an estate in Kennington, south London.

O'Mahoney - now 18 - was jailed for eight years for manslaughter in 2006.

Three other gang members were jailed for 12 years.

 

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