A child aged just 11 has been granted a gun licence in Essex.

Essex Police have issued 147 gun permits to children under the age of 18 in the past two years.

Today they confirmed that the youngest person currently holding a licence is only 11.

The oldest person to be granted a licence, which includes permits for .22 rifles, .243 rifles, .410 rifles, .410 shotguns and 12-bore semi-automatic shotguns, is aged 94.

In total, 4,645 licences have been issued to under-18s in England in the past two years, with Essex coming ninth in a table of the police forces that issued the highest number.

Suffolk Constabulary topped the table with 403 permits, with four issued to nine-year-olds, three to ten-year-olds and 20 to 11-year-olds.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "In the case of people under the age of 15, they are subject to a lengthy process alongside their parents, and with any person who wants to take them shooting on non-police approved land.

"Annual training is also arranged with shooting associations for the under-15s.

"There are very limited circumstances under which anyone under the age of 17 can use a shotgun but there is no minimum age limit for granting a shotgun certificate.

"Anyone over the age of 75 is assessed by a firearms inquiry officer and all certificates are renewed on a five-yearly basis, or sooner if required."

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