Home Secretary Jack Straw today announced a £120,000 scheme aimed at tackling young "bail bandits" in Oxford.

He revealed the details when he addressed a London conference on tackling young thugs.

Last month, a ten-year-old Banbury youngster absconded to America with his father before he was due to appear before a youth court facing a robbery charge.

Mr Straw announced how £13m in grants for bail supervision and support schemes had been divided up.

Oxfordshire County Council has been given £72,298 towards a £120,647 scheme in the city. The other £48,349 has been raised from other sources.

The money is aimed at "giving pump priming funds essential to establish a bail support strategy in Oxford, where 75 per cent of young people conditionally bailed were identified as needing a bail support package". At the conference, called "Catching Them Early", Mr Straw announced that new measures to allow courts to remand children as young as 12 direct to secure accommodation, to impose special community sentences on teenagers, to force parents to take responsibility for their children and to impose curfews to stop under tens running round the streets late at night would come in to force on June 1.

Mr Straw, who has a house in Oxfordshire, said: "Much of the crime effecting our communities is committed by youngsters, yet, for too long, the youth justice system has failed to deal effectively with them.

"We know that a large proportion of crimes are committed by young people while on bail. Spree offending by so-called 'bail bandits' is a major headache to the police and local communities. The measures we're announcing today will make an impact on this problem."

Story date: Tuesday 09 March

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