The sexual exploitation of children in Britain is widespread – much of it fuelled by kids accessing extreme porn, the Deputy Children’s Commissioner has told MPs.
Some of the worst exploiters have been other children who have a twisted view of sex caused by easy access to hard core adult websites.
Girls as young as eleven have been forced to perform sex acts on a line-up of boys for as long as two hours.
Rape
Boys aged 14-15 used mobile messaging to summon friends to a gang-rape of a “very, very young girl” over several days.
Other boys have used internet tricks to get girls to meet them, but they are ambushed and raped.
These appalling incidents were reported by Sue Berelowitz in her evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry into child grooming.
Filter
She says parents may think that porn filters on their home computers adequately protect their children, but adult material can be easily accessed via mobile phones.
MPs have vowed to contact government ministers in a bid to tackle the problem speedily.
Meanwhile a petition to curb children’s access to pornography is approaching 100,000 signatures.
Concern
SafetyNet’s petition, which is supported by Premier Christian Media Trust and SaferMedia, calls “on the Government to force Internet Service Providers to make accessing pornography an adult only opt-in service”.
There has been increased concern about the issue of internet pornography since a cross-party inquiry in April.
The inquiry’s report highlighted figures showing almost one in three children aged just ten or under has seen sexual images online.