Kent is becoming a more hot-headed society - with children as young as 10 caught up in today's violent culture.

Violent crime among Kent's youths has increased by nearly a fifth over the last five years, figures released exclusively to KentOnline reveal.

The statistics paint a worrying picture of crime committed among the youth in the county.

Violence against the person was the biggest offence for 10 to 17-year-olds, up by 19 per cent from 4,508 to 5,354 between 2003 and 2007.

The number of sex offences nearly doubled from 179 to 312 and criminal damage incidents jumped from 3,364 to 3,423 for the same period (up 1.8 per cent).

Alison Byrne, a social worker in Maidstone who is also a parent coach to families across Kent, said: “These statistics are quite shocking when you look at the age of the children in Kent committing violent crime as young as 10.

“I think it’s quite scary that violence against the person is becoming a prominent offence and it is one of the biggest crimes that young people are committing.

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"With all the recent media attention on knife crime, it is making people anxious about our young people and what they are being pulled into."

She said many children didn’t know how to manage anger and used violence as a way to deal with it.

Theft offences in Kent rose from 1,416 to 1,581 since 2003, an increase of 12 per cent, and Ms Byrne believes peer pressure could be one of the reasons youngsters steal.

“You are more likely to be involved in theft if you are with a group of friends egging each other on. You are less willing to say no as it's safety in numbers and saying no can be hard for children, particular if they are not from strong families.

“It is about building relationships and helping parents to understand what their children are doing. Some young people don’t have the appropriate role models to guide them through on how to deal with things.”

Other offences which showed a marked increase among younsters in the county since 2003 include shoplifting incidents, which rose by more than 25 per cent from 2018 to 2544, and drugs offences, from 434 to 536 - nearly a quarter up.

“I think it’s quite scary that violence against the person is becoming a prominent offence and it is one of the biggest crimes that young people are committing."

Alison Byrne, social worker

But the number of burglary offences was down by 15, from 621 five years ago.

She also stresses there is no longer the fear within the community as in the past, when the local policeman might have told parents what their children were up to.

“I think the lack of strong communities can have a real impact on things that would have stopped us as children many years ago,” she added.

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“I would advise young people to ask for help if they see anger as a problem. Also I would ask parents, carers, teachers, and anyone involved with young people to try to pick up on changes in behaviour and catch them before things get to an extreme level. The families I have worked with have waited until things have come to a crisis point before they seek help. But talking to young people is the best way before it gets to a high level of violent crime, or any involvement with the police and the Criminal Justice System.”