Teenagers as young as 15 have been authorised as Covert Human Intelligence Sources, according to official figures, in conditions that campaigners claim breach their human rights.
As of March this year, a total of 17 children across 11 areas have been taken on by police and other UK investigative agencies since January 2015 - a majority of them aged 16 and 17.
In one case, a 17-year-old girl spy continued to be sexually exploited by the man she was gathering intelligence on, and she was even coerced into being an accessory to murder.
Children's rights charity Just for Kids Law has crowdfunded to bring the judicial review against the Home Office, claiming already vulnerable children are at risk of exploitation as well as long-lasting physical and emotional harm.
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