More than 1,000 children in Sussex were caught abusing alcohol in a five-year period, official figures showed yesterday.

A total of 1,116 under-18s were fined, cautioned or taken to court for booze-related offences between 2003 and 2007, according to Home Office records.

They included 939 children aged 16 or 17, 173 aged 13 to 15 and four aged 10 to 12.

The Liberal Democrats called the figures "shocking" and demanded an end to alcohol being sold at "pocket-money prices".

The party said the number of under-18s involved in alcohol-related offences across England and Wales had increased by almost a third, from 6,764 in 2003 to 8,686 in 2007, with the five-year total reaching 39,714 - including 124 children aged 10 to 12.

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne, who obtained the figures through Parliamentary questions, said they "painted a shocking picture" of how many children were "dragged into the criminal justice system through alcohol abuse".