Children as young as seven reported to police for attacks on parents

One force dealt with six youngsters aged eight or nine who were alleged to have committed rapes

(Getty Images)

Children as young as seven have faced a police investigation for allegedly attacking their parents, according to a report.

The Metropolitan Police revealed that 1,417 children under 18 were accused of violent acts against their mother or father in 2014, up by 61 per cent on 2012, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The figures included a child who was accused of murder and more than 1,300 cases of assault. Only 253 were actually prosecuted. Only those aged 10 or over can be charged as this is the age of criminal responsibility.

Scotland Yard did not reveal details about the allegations against the seven-year-old.

Earlier this year, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) revealed a young girl was taken into police custody after fighting with her sister over a TV remote.

“Police officers we spoke to told us that they were called frequently to deal with incidents where parents or children’s homes could not cope with a child’s disruptive behaviour and sought to use the police as a way to discipline children,” it said in a report.

HMIC added that police targets on domestic violence had resulted in “unnecessary” detentions of children.

Cambridgeshire Police also told the Telegraph that 54 children under 10 had been accused of crimes in 2014, including six who were aged eight or nine alleged to have committed rapes. A four-year-old child was investigated for “criminal damage to a building”.