Thugs to be tagged in US-style trial to tackle drunken crime

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The pilot scheme will involve people convicted of serious drink-related offences such as assault and criminal damage. They will be offered the option of wearing bracelets to monitor their alcohol levels as an alternative to a jail sentence. The tags will be linked to a central computer and if it detects they are drinking again they face being sent to prison.

The £400,000 pilot scheme has been approved by the Ministry of Justice and is expected to deal with between 100 and 300 offenders.

The plan is the idea of Kit Malthouse, who heads the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, and is based on a successful scheme first introduced in South Dakota for offenders including drink drivers. Mr Malthouse said: "This pilot is great news for London and bad news for the persistent offenders who cause misery and mayhem with alcohol fuelled violence.

"We hope this mini pilot will have a positive impact on people this summer."

He said a survey of Londoners had shown people want more done to tackle alcohol-related crime.

Official figures show that last year nearly half of all violent crime was fuelled by alcohol while the London Ambulance Service attended 51,718 incidents where alcohol was mentioned as involved, a nine per cent increase on the previous year.

The scheme was inspired by a programme in South Dakota where 99.3 per cent of offenders' tests were negative and the prison population fell by 14 per cent.

The technology used to run the scheme is so far untested in the UK.

Eric Appleby, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: "We need to be careful about how we implement this to make sure it is not just a blunt instrument.

"We have a problem with drink but my concern is that enforced sobriety will simply temporarily keep it at bay rather than tackle the underlying causes of the problem."