Police are to launch an investigation after confidential police records on a young offender were found on the steps of York Magistrates Court.

The documents, which are a print-out from a police computer, list every occasion on which the ten-year-old boy has been in contact with the police.

They show 21 incidents ranging from reports of the boy going missing from home to shoplifting and car thefts spanning a period from August to December.

The boy's address is also on the print-out, which was handed to the Evening Press by a member of the public.

Superintendent John Lacy, York police's operations chief, said he was concerned that such sensitive documents had found their way into the public arena.

He said early indications were that they had fallen from a case file being taken to or from court by a police officer, a solicitor or the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The Evening Press has handed the documents back to the police.