New fears over Net child abusers

The dramatic scale of internet child abuse is revealed today.

Experts proved how chatrooms and message boards used by paedophiles can be accessed within seconds from normal computer users' screens.

And it has revealed how the latest technologies are being used by child abusers to help them avoid detection.

The findings came as Children's Charity Barnardo's published a disturbing insight into internet child abuse that showed how paedophiles are using the internet at every level, from "grooming" children in chatrooms to operating password-protected sites that show sex abuse live online.

Today a major conference of children's charities, internet groups, police and Home Office officials was discussing the report.

The problem is being taken so seriously by the Government that a committee of ministers has been set up to form a response to it.

Standard inquiries found shocking material easily available and even listed on the most popular search engines. Unlike the paedophile website that was infiltrated by American postal inspectors, leading to the Operation Ore crackdown on child porn users, much of it is only barely concealed.

Leading net expert Rachel O'Connell, director of research at the Cyberspace Research Unit, conducted the Standard's search for illegal material.

Using normal search engines and routine words she found thousands of websites and message boards catering for paedophiles.

One message board included an entry from a paedophile claiming his conquest had enjoyed the experience and went on to boast "her dad was a groomer too, so it wasn't a problem".

Others included tips for avoiding detection and advice for luring victims. One message board detailed frequently asked questions for beginners, known as "newbies".

The Internet Watch Foundation, the watchdog which monitors online content and alerts British internet companies to any illegal content on their sites, estimates that just one per cent of child-abuse material is being hosted on British companies' servers. The rest are hosted abroad, with Russia and Indonesia the worst offenders. A detective involved in tackling online paedophilia said: "We can close them down one week, and they are up on another server in another two weeks."

Police also warned that the sort of file-sharing technology used on music websites to share MP3s is now being used by abusers.

Barnardo's details how the children had been caught up in scenarios in which abusers were aided by technology. An analysis of the 83 cases dealt with showed 28 children had been exposed to images of child abuse as part of their "grooming". The charity also found examples of children being "sold" online for sex.

Tink Palmer, who researched the charity's report, said: "Evidence is evolving that the children are getting younger, the abuse more severe and the settings more everyday."