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THE number of Hampshire children who find themselves in custody has fallen by more than 70 per cent in the past few years.

Hampshire's youth offending team has been working to have young offenders put through intervention sessions, rather than spending time in custody.

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Now, the number of young people ending up in custody has fallen dramatically, along with a forecast reduction in the number of first-time offenders.

Head of the youth offending team, Nikki Shave, said: 'We believe that the number of first-time entrants in the criminal justice system will have soon fallen by 50 per cent.

'It's probably the most important part of the work we do. The number of children in custody has fallen from 28 per year a few years ago, to just eight in the past 12 months.

'The idea behind it is that we're putting the children and their families first, to boost their self-esteem and avoiding custody as much as we possibly can.'

Custody numbers for Hampshire children fall by more than 70 per cent