Warning over teen drinks epidemic

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Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, also issued a stinging rebuke to parents who supply their underage children with booze, citing police data showing up to 50% are getting it from parents.

And he condemned the drinks industry for targeting the young and exporting its "negative costs onto the streets, hospitals and into the criminal justice system".

"We need to take a hard look at this and whether we should we really be looking to make profits on the back of this sort of misery," he told the BBC.

The warning comes amid heightened concerns about the issue after a spate of high-profile crimes involving underage drinkers, including the murder of Garry Newlove.

Mr Jones demanded: "Why is it we have got ourselves into a position where lager is being sold cheaper than water? Why is it we have got huge entertainment and drinks companies marketing alcohol to children?

"We've got a generation of binge-drinkers now who have become habituated to that."

And he added: "We have got to ask ourselves why we have these products developed in the way they are, why in the middle of some of the most already-struggling estates there are outlets for some of this cheap stuff and why it is we continue to see products developed solely targeted at young people.

"Elements of the industry are taking their role much more seriously, but I have to say many more are not.

"We can't allow them to continue to export their negative costs on to the streets, hospitals and into the criminal justice system. It's got to stop."