DESPITE video evidence showing them systematically wrecking cars for 20 minutes at a Rossendale car dismantlers where 150 vehicles were smashed over several nights, the pair of 12-year-olds nabbed by security cameras were let off by the police with just a caution

It was hardly a spontaneous offence - when the film showed them smashing cars into each other and jumping through the windscreens of others for so long.

Police claimed the law made them powerless - because of the offenders' age. And said a sergeant: "Rather than give them a criminal life from day one, we're giving them a chance in case they made a mistake."

How many chances do the victims of 12-year-old offenders get? Besides, this age business is a bogus excuse - the age of criminal responsibility in this country is ten.

But doesn't it put years on you when the people charged with upholding and administering the law can teach wrong-doing youngsters that all they will get is a telling off?

Crime and punishment? Don't make me laugh - more like crime and sweep it under the carpet for a quiet life.

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