Although it may appear draconian it can rescue someone from a life of crime

Tom Stacey, Offenders' Tag Association

The information will then be relayed to a private security firm to arrest her.

The girl is at the lowest age anyone in Britain can be tagged.

Tom Stacey, director of the Offenders' Tag Association, described the move as "brave".

"It has been used in the US for a while now and if it is properly managed then it works. We call it 'caring monitoring'.

Rising street crime

"Although it may appear draconian it can rescue someone from a life of crime and that has got to be worth it."

Magistrates ordered the girl to stay out of the town centre after she was accused of mugging another 12-year-old girl for her mobile phone and �5 cash.

The tag was fitted when she broke the bail conditions.

Blunkett: People are 'sick and tired' of repeat offenders

The girl's solicitor David Grice told the Express and Star newspaper: "I welcome this as preferable to the alternatives, which would have included locking her up."

The tagging of young offenders was introduced by Home Secretary David Blunkett for children between the ages of 12 and 16 as part of the 2001 Criminal Justice Act.

He told the BBC at the time that the scheme is designed "to stop thugs cocking a snook" at police and the legal system which is often forced to free them to re-offend.

The move is in response to soaring levels of street crime and robberies.

Officers expect to tag 1,800 young tearaways in the scheme's first year after it was launched in April in six areas across the country as a pilot.