Croydon’s youngest criminal was finally locked up yesterday as he celebrated his 12th birthday.

Social workers moved the tearaway, who has 19 convictions ranging from burglary to car theft, from his home in Croydon to Essex last month.

Yesterday Witham Youth Court, in Essex, heard he “had difficulty settling in” and had attacked two care home workers before stealing a member of staff’s car.

Magistrates used their powers for the first time to remand him into secure custody until he reappears for sentence in March.

The serial thief recently escaped from a special trip to the Tower of London to commit a burglary.

He was being taken on a trip around the capital as a treat for behaving himself despite being arrested more than 60 times.

The Croydon Guardian can reveal he has a partner in crime – also 12.

He is currently being housed in a secure housing unit in Southampton, but appeared in Croydon Youth Court on Tuesday charged with assault and robbery.

The boy has already been convicted seven times for multiple offences over two years, including theft, assault, burglary, robbery and fraud.

A police source said: “These are possibly two of the most horrible children you could ever come across.

“They simply do not care if they are arrested, jailed, or let go, it is all just the same to them.

“They play the system because they know they can get away with it.

“Think about it, if you had done all the things they had done and been arrested the amount of times they had and still not been jailed, you’d think you were invincible too.

“The two of them used to do things together but both of them would also go out and do things on their own.”

q Have you had a run in with either of these young crooks or do you know them? Call the newsdesk on 020 8330 9558.