Twelve Lewisham children were tasered between 2008- 2012  pic: Doctor_Q

The Metropolitan Police Tasered twelve children from Lewisham between 2008 and 2012, a new report reveals.

The figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request issued by Children’s Rights Alliance for England revealed that Lewisham has the second highest number of Tasered youngsters in the capital.

Stun guns were used on children 131 times over the four years across all London’s boroughs. The devices used on children shoot 50,000 volts through a person’s body and they are the same ones that are used on adults.

Paula Uccellari, the director of CRAE, said: “Children living in the same city are experiencing vastly different treatment, depending on where they happen to grow up, and this is not always linked to obvious explanations such as high child poverty or crime rates.”

She said: “This suggests that different approaches at the local level can have a big impact on many of the human rights issues facing children in London.”

Children in Croydon, Lewisham, Southwark and Lambeth were Tasered 51 times between 2008 and 2012, which accounts to 40 per cent of the overall total. Police officers trained to use Tasers are present in all 32 London boroughs.

The discharge of a Taser disrupts voluntary control of the muscles and the stun guns were first introduced as non-lethal weapons to be used by police to subdue fleeing, belligerent or potentially dangerous people.