Children as young as four have been investigated for drug and sex offences - and toddlers aged just two suspected of assault, it was revealed today. Shocking figures from West Midlands Police also show a nine-year-old has been probed on suspicion of criminal damage and a four-year-old questioned over an assault. Between 2009 and 2014 a total of 617 youngsters aged under ten in the region either committed, of were suspected of committing, a crime. Investigated: Between 2009 and 2014 a total of 617 youngsters aged under ten in the West Midlands either committed, of were suspected of committing, a crime, according to figures (file picture posed by model) They include 41 nine-year-old boys investigated for crimes last year including five suspected of sexual offences, according to the details released after a Freedom of Information Act request. A nine-year-old girl was also linked to a case of criminal damage while a five-year-old girl was alleged to have committed sexual activity with a child. The legal age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is ten. But four-year-old children have also been investigated on suspicion of possessing cannabis, criminal damage, assault, theft and sexual activity with a child aged under 13. In both 2013 and 2014 two-year-old boys were believed to be behind assaults and in 2012 a three-year-old girl was suspected of being responsible for a theft. Publication: West Midlands Police (whose headquarters in Birmingham are pictured) released figures showing that in both 2013 and 2014 two-year-old boys were believed to be behind assaults . Police admitted some of the figures may be inaccurate - including statistics showing a rape suspect aged minus three, and a one-year-old breaching a non-molestation order. A boy of 13 became one of Britain's youngest murderers after he was jailed for at least 12 years for killing a woman he had just mugged by stamping on her face so hard it left a footprint on her cheek. CCTV footage showed the horrendous moment Petri Kurti murdered 47-year-old Glynis Bensley before he fled to a nearby park in Smethwick, West Midlands, and boasted about the savage attack. The schoolboy, who was named last Friday after a judge lifted a reporting restriction order, will be on licence for life. Sentencing, Judge John Warner said he had been 'running wild' in his home life. A force spokesman said: ‘The response features information collated in good faith from millions of pieces of data stored on force systems which, on reflection, contains some inaccuracies as a result of human inputting errors at the time of the crime being recorded.' He added that the FOI response was released with the following caveat: 'Although every effort is made to ensure the figures presented are accurate and complete, the data collected is subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recorded system. ‘As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data. ‘Data on ages is calculated from date of birth, which is inputted manually. Therefore inaccuracies may result from human error.'
Nine-year-old probed over criminal damage & four-year-old over assault .
617 under-tens in West Midlands from 2009 to 2014 in suspected crimes .
Five-year-old girl is alleged to have committed sexual activity with child .
The legal age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is ten .