Kent crime commissioner Ann Barnes has blamed media intrusion for her decision not to appoint a new youth crime tsar.

In her first public comments on the decision to scrap the role, Mrs Barnes said today she felt that it would be wrong to put another young person in a situation where they would face intense media scrutiny.

She told a meeting of the Kent and Medway Crime Panel that she was proud of the initiative.

But she acknowledged there had been difficulties - a reference to the well-documented problems and controversy that dogged the initiative.

The first youth commissioner Paris Brown quit within days after revelations about offensive comments made on social media surfaced. Her replacement Kerry Boyd then faced questions over a relationship with a former county councillor.

Mrs Barnes said: “I am proud of the concept and the work they did. I cannot justify any more the burden on one person. The intrusion of the media has made me think twice. I cannot hide the fact that there were difficulties with it.”

The commissioner is planning to set up a youth forum in place of the youth crime tsar but faced questions from the panel about why it was needed when there were existing groups like the Kent Youth Parliament.

She said she wanted to reach out to those young people who were not traditionally represented on such groups.

Crime panel chairman Cllr Mike Hill warned there was a risk that a new forum on top of other groups risked unnecessary bureaucracy.

“I am pleased you are not going to continue with the youth commissioner role but I question why you need to set up another group. Why not go to the existing organisations?”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that a report into a car crash involving the commissioner has now been sent to "interested parties" but will not be published until it has been presented to a meeting of the Kent and Medway Crime Panel.

Mrs Barnes faced claims that she had been driving without valid insurance at the time of the accident which happened in Dartford.

However, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to pursue the matter and no charges were made.

An IPCC spokesman said that the report would not be put into the public domain until interested parties had had a chance to consider and comment on its contents.