Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh has revealed he had a criminal record at the age of EIGHT.

The Scottish writer, 59, revealed his previous "bad boy" status and how life on a housing estate in Edinburgh shaped his worldview.

He said that when he was just eight years of age, police lifted him and his friends during a kickabout in the Muirhouse area of the city.

They were dragged to court, accompanied by their "outraged, disbelieving parents" and Welsh recalled his dad "doing his nut at the judge".

Writing about the experience in The Guardian, Welsh described it as "educative and exciting".

Glasgow Times:

He said: "My first exposure to the law came when I was eight years old.

"Some pals and I were kicking a ball around on the grass verge in front of the maisonette block of flats in Muirhouse we had only just moved into.

"We all knew each other as we came from the West Pilton prefabs.

"There were no "NO BALL GAMES" signs in evidence, but we were apprehended by the police and formally charged under an obscure council bylaw; a bunch of boys ranging from six to 10 years old.

"Humanely, they let the six-year-old go, as he was distressed and crying.

"The rest of us had a day out in the city, up at the court on the High Street, accompanied by our outraged, disbelieving parents.

"I recall my dad doing his nut at the judge. It was educative and exciting."

Welsh said the boys were terrified, thinking they were going to jail.

But they later swaggered around, revelling in their "ludicrous bad boy" status.

He added: "At first we were terrorised, thinking we were going to jail.

"Then we swaggered around, revelling in our ludicrous "bad boy" status. Even though we were let off without a fine, I officially had a criminal record at eight years old.

"It's difficult to think of this happening in the leafier bourgeois suburbs of Edinburgh.

"Yet it showed me exactly what the city was, and my place in it."