A MUSLIM schoolboy from Bradford who had drawn Kalashnikov rifles on his books and expressed violent fantasies has been kept on the straight and narrow in a police-backed anti-extremism scheme.

Brief details of the unnamed boy's worrying behaviour were outlined to a Bradford Council committee which last night discussed the work being done in the city to prevent the growth of extremist views.

The work by local agencies is in support of the Government's Prevent strategy, introduced in 2011 as part of a national counter terrorism strategy.

Superintendent Vince Firth, of Bradford district police, told councillors that the aim was to protect children and not to criminalise them.

He said it was important to protect vulnerable people - including those with mental illness - from being groomed by terrorists.

Supt Firth said the Asian boy's parents had been "horrified" to learn he was drawing guns on his school books and writing words which suggested "only Muslims should be allowed to live".

The response from agencies to help the schoolboy involved "religious leadership to show what the Korans says", said Supt Firth.

"That lad hasn't got a criminal record and we feel he has been diverted away from the criminal pathway."

Supt Firth also gave the example of a group of white youths who began using racist language while following football in Bradford.

He said the youths had displayed "worrying behaviour" towards people of different colours and religions.

"They clearly had bad older role models who they were following," he said.

With help from schools and youth offending experts, the youths were taken to museums and shown how racial hatred can lead atrocities and genocide.

"That took place two-and-a-half years ago. We are not concerned about those lads any more. Their views have completely changed."

The report to the scrutiny committee revealed that Bradford receives £45,000 a year to fund Prevent work.

Councillors questioned why so little cash had been forthcoming.

Council leader David Green said that the money was awarded on the basis of risk, as determined by the Home Office, and therefore it wasn't such a bad thing to receive less money than other cities.

Some councillors suggested that the report lacked detail and it was time for the council and partners to look deeper into what was happening within communities.

Councillor Alyas Karmani said: "How do we know that we are competent in what we are doing?"

He claimed that the "whole agenda is toxic and has been maligned in the media."

"Large swathes of our communities are not engaging with this agenda at all."

After the meeting, Councillor Mohammed Amran said: "We need to get to the hard to reach communities. They (local agencies) need to engage with real people and not put money into the same organisations that they have been doing for 10 to 20 years."