A 14-year-old boy, who has 52 convictions on his criminal record and was recently given a two-year detention order, has escaped from custody and has been at large for nearly three weeks.

A 14-year-old boy was today convicted of taking part in three burglaries within the space of an hour, less than two months after he was put into a juvenile detention centre.

PROBATION officers are threatening to boycott a new community scheme supervising released sex offenders over a staffing crisis.