The scale of youth binge drinking was exposed yesterday by a single day’s hearings in one court where a dozen teenagers claimed that their separate crimes were all drink fuelled.

All 12 youngsters had been arrested after heavy drinking sessions during half term – despite a £1 million government clampdown to stop children drinking during the school holiday.

The catalogue of crimes and vandalism they accumulated between them included assault, criminal damage, drink-driving, affray and burglary.

Magistrates at Hastings Youth Court, East Sussex, heard that one 15-year-old girl admitted causing affray after drinking 11 bottles of alcopop.

Closed-circuit television footage showed her remove one of her knee-high boots and beat a stranger over the head, starting a late-night mêlée in the town centre involving 20 other drunken teenagers.

She could have been sent to youth custody but was instead given 20 hours’ community service and ordered to pay £20 costs at £2 per week.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has promised to halt the underage drinking crisis with extra cash for policing during the school holidays. But the extent of her challenge was underlined by the catalogue of cases that came before the youth court last week and was disclosed yesterday.

In another case, a 16-year-old youth was caught driving his father’s works van after consuming cans of strong lager with friends. The level of alcohol in his blood was nearly twice the drink-drive limit when police stopped him.

The court heard that he had taken the van to search for a man who had been “hitting on his sister”. He was banned from driving for 16 months and given a nine-month referral order.

Another 16-year-old youth who had been drinking cans of strong lager and a two-litre bottle of cider at a park in Rye attacked a fellow teenager for looking at him. His victim suffered a broken nose and such severe facial swelling that he was unable to open his eye. The teenager was given a 12-month referral order and ordered to pay £75 compensation.

In another case, a 17-year-old drank lager and cider before rampaging through a housing estate, smashing fences, throwing eggs at windows, swearing at neighbours and spitting in one man’s face. He also knocked a woman’s camera out of her hands as she tried to record evidence of his wrecking spree.

The youth, who admitted criminal damage and assault, was ordered to pay £250 compensation and £100 costs at £5 per week.

Magistrates were also told about a 15-year-old with a history of defying antisocial behaviour orders who breached his curfew nine times times in two weeks. The youth, who has a long history of alcohol-related violence and disorder, told the court: “I go out in the evenings with my mates. Sometimes I lose track of the time. It’s not my fault.” The teenager, just 4ft 8in tall, was fined £24 for the breaches.

His lawyer said: “He has breached almost every order he’s ever been given and on the occasions he has been given a second chance he has breached them again.”

One persistent offender failed to turn up at court to face sentencing for a charge of burglary. The court heard that the 16-year-old had stolen drugs from a hospital in Kent where he was receiving treatment for alcoholism.

The dossier of violence and vandalism comes after a study by the Office for National Statistics revealed that thousands of children as young as 12 were drinking regularly “to get drunk”. As many as 23 per cent of under16s said that they had been in trouble with police after drinking, and 42 per cent said that they started drinking before turning 13.

Last month it was revealed that the number of teenagers and children convicted of violent crimes had increased from 17,590 to 24,102 a year since 2005.

Ms Smith said: “We have reached a worrying tipping point, where more 13-year-olds have drunk alcohol than have not.

“The idea that you can hand your kids a six-pack of lager and tell them to disappear off for the evening, with no thought of the consequences, baffles me.”

Michael Foster, the Labour MP for Hastings, said: “Binge-drinking teenagers are causing major problems, and parents must play their part. The Government is responsible for enforcing the law and making it very clear to society that irresponsible and violent behaviour is simply not acceptable. Police need tougher powers to really clamp down on underage drinking in public places.”

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