MORE than 30,000 offenders been let off with a formal caution from Essex Police between 2008 and 2010, new figures reveal.

The total includes ten people involved with child pornography, two who inflicted grievous bodily harm with intent and three who committed underage sex offences.

More than 160 burglars were among those who escaped prosecution by accepting formal cautions from the police, according to figures revealed under a Freedom of Information request.

Home Office guidelines say police can caution minor first-time adult offenders who admit their guilt.

A caution is not a criminal conviction, but does stay on the offender’s police record for five years. Being cautioned for a sexual offence would involve the offender being put on the sex offenders’ register.

Offenders aged 17 or under are dealt with by a parallel system of reprimands and final warnings and so are not included in the figures.

An Essex Police spokesman said the decision to issue a caution rather than prosecuting depended on several factors.

He added: “There is a need to balance the needs of the victim, the interests of justice, and to protect the public by reducing re-offending.

“Cautions administered in relation to sexual activity involving a child under 16 are characteristically to defendants involved in consensual relationships. Cautions administered in respect of burglaries on homes were where there was a family connection or domestic relationship to the aggrieved, or where the interests of the victim or public interest have been balanced with preventing re-offending.”

The greatest number of cautions, 7,551, were given for theft, followed by 7,090 for minor assaults and 5,146 for criminal damage.