A TOP lawyer and Liberal Democrat peer yesterday revealed he had been frightened by techniques used to subdue child prisoners.

Lord Carlile of Berriew said he asked custody staff to use control and restraint methods on him as part of an independent inquiry into their use on offenders under the age of 18.

He said: "I found the techniques ranged between the broadly acceptable and the frankly unacceptable."

Lord Carlile said routine strip-searching of children in prison should end and called for the use of physical force to be severely restricted.

He said he had been shocked by the treatment of child offenders.

A child abuse inquiry would normally be triggered if children elsewhere were treated in the same way, he said.

The 100-page report disclosed reports that some staff would "bait" children into situations that would lead them to being restrained for the adult's sexual gratification.

Lord Carlile said: "This conclusion was derived from talking to young people."

It was also the case that some young detainees would deliberately seek physical force to gratify their own sexual needs.

"This has to be treated with great delicacy," said Lord Carlile, noting that some child prisoners will have experienced previous sexual abuse.

The report, commissioned by the Howard League for Penal Reform, revealed that physical force was used against youngsters 15,512 times in a 21-month period in England and Wales.