YOUNGSTERS at a Chester-le-Street school have been using pen power to beat criminals.

Ninety pupils at Lumley Junior School were given property marking pens for a police competition in which they had to write their postcode and house number on as many items as they could.

The youngsters got into the spirit of the event and between them marked more than 4,000 pieces of property.

Sgt Ian Butler, of the Durham and Chester-le-Street division's community safety department, said: "As part of the competition we also asked them to mark the most unusual item they could find and the smallest. Between them they have put identifications marks on about 4,000 items.

"We have carried out this project as part of the Kids On Track programme, which is like a Junior Neighbourhood Watch scheme. The youngsters have displayed stickers on their homes warning would-be thieves that their property bears identification mark."

Three youngsters won the competition and were presented with their prizes, book tokens, by PC Paul Walker, the village's beat officer.

Gemma Birtley, 11, marked the most items, 188. Bernadette Blakey, nine, identified the most unusual item, a china doll, and Daniel Dobson, ten, marked the smallest item, a Lego brick.