ALMOST one in seven burglaries recorded by Thames Valley Police were by under 18s, statistics reveal.

The Take No More campaign, led by charity Victim Support and security company ADT to tackle burglary, obtained statistics from the force on how many burglaries were committed by youths.

There were 54,730 burglaries across the Thames Valley between 2008 and 2013.

Out of those 7,372 burglars were caught and 1,025 of those were under the age of 18, making 13.9 per cent of offenders. Across England and Wales nearly 100,000 break-ins were committed by under 18s.

Thames Valley Police was one of only four forces which recorded the proportion of burglaries committed by minors as less than 15 per cent.

The police force with the lowest percentage was Wiltshire Police, at just three per cent.

Victim Support director John Hayward Cripps said: “From supporting thousands of burglary victims every year, we know that what they want most is for no one else to suffer like they have.

“It’s sad that the young people committing these crimes are detrimentally affecting their peers the most.

“People aged 10 to16 years old are much more likely to be the victim of a crime than at any other time in their life.”

Gail Hunter, spokeswoman for ADT, added: “We have found that some of the worst affected victims of burglary are children, yet these statistics have shown that the perpetrators of the crimes are children themselves.”