A three-year-old child who was treated in hospital for addiction to alcohol is thought to be Britain's youngest ever alcoholic, health officials said yesterday.

The youngster was one of 13 people under the age of 12 who were diagnosed as alcoholics by the state-run National Health Service (NHS) in central England between 2008 and 2010.

Health officials declined to disclose the identity because of patient confidentiality rules. However, it was revealed that the child was treated in hospital after being given alcohol regularly for six months.

The unnamed youngster, was from the West Midlands.

An NHS spokeswoman said, "We treat alcohol abuse very seriously, and have specialist teams and experts
on hand who are there to treat young patients with alcohol-related problems."
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Last month, a girl of eight from Dundee was identified as the youngest alcoholic. It was learnt that she was getting drunk four or five times a week.