SIX boys are set to appear in court following a police investigation into youth violence plaguing a town.

Sussex Police have been looking into a series of shocking incidents in which children were singled out and attacked by violent groups of youths in Worthing.

Videos of some of the vicious attacks circulated on social media last year. In one clip, a group of young boys forced a child to his knees then repeatedly punched, stamped and kicked him in the head.

A force spokesman said investigations into the footage had “uncovered a wider picture of violence involving and affecting young people in the town”.

Superintendent of Adur and Worthing Miles Ockwell said enquiries into the video led to the discovery of “a small group of young people who had been assaulting other young people in that area for a period of time”.

He said: “We don’t know exactly how long for. The incident in the video was probably the worst in terms of seriousness, but there were others.

“We found other incidents where they had singled out children and subjected them to assault and filmed it.

“We are talking about 11, 12 and 13-year-olds, and the perpetrators are very young themselves.”

The video was first seen by police the day after two teenagers were stabbed in the Worthing area. Supt Ockwell said he could not “say it is directly linked but it is another incident of serious violence”.

A 16-year-old boy was left in a serious condition after being attacked at Goring Station on October 1. This followed the stabbing of a 16-year-old in South Farm Road, Worthing, an hour earlier.

Sussex Police have now provided an update on their investigation.

A spokeswoman for the force said: “We continue to work closely with partner agencies to tackle violence involving and affecting young people in the community. The public have shown their support to our investigation and we would like to thank them for this.

“Despite there being a reduction in incidents of violence involving youths across the district, we would still encourage the community to report matters of anti-social behaviour and violence to us and there are many ways you can do this. You can report it to us online or by calling 101 or anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers or Fearless.

“Six boys arrested for offences linked to violence will be appearing at youth courts either on January 23 or 30 for charges of causing actual bodily harm.”