GP SENT HUG-AND-KISS EMOJIS TO ‘13-YEAR-OLD’ COP

victim given help era or to meet in person, said the NSPCC, which supports Childline.

Many youngsters are then blackmailed by their abusers.

The Daily Express is campaigning for social media giants and internet companies to be regulated to protect children from grooming.

Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, said: “The online world is creating a new opportunity for people to exploit young and vulnerable people.

“The internet is designed to bring people together, which is a gift to the groomers to find and meet these people.

“Sadly, we are hearing from young people every day who are being manipulated or blackmailed into carrying out sexual acts.

“For many this impacts on their mental health and leaves them feeling isolated from the people closest to them.

“Some turn to self-harm, alcohol

Posed by a model or substance misuse as ways coping with their experiences.

“We have had 13 voluntary codes of protection where the companies have said they will do something to keep children safe. If anything it is getting worse.”

One survivor said that technology firms must develop ways to detect grooming that may not be in the form of explicit messaging or images but rather an older male adding lots of young children as of

A FAMILY doctor has been found guilty of sexuallymotivated misconduct over a series of messages he thought he was sending to a 13-year-old girl.

Dr Hafeez Awan, 44, swapped hug emojis and online kisses with the “teen”, not realising she was an undercover detective probing online paedophile gangs.

The General Medical Council heard that at the time Awan was working with children as a GP in friends. Lucie, who was abused aged just 12 after being groomed online, said: “It seems to me that they are actually making it easier to groom people than making it harder.”

Mr Wanless added: “These techniques are already being applied to gain advertising revenue.

“If you buy an expensive lawnmower, you are bombarded with adverts for other gardening equipment. If your credit card is

Sheepscar in Leeds. Using the name Medic333 during hours of internet and WhatsApp chats, he asked the girl when she revealed her age: “R u single?” and “R u at school?”

He also told her: “I want hugs. Do you have a number? I want to call you and listen to ur voice.” Awan was used online, the financial services are very quick to check if the transaction is genuine.

“There are proper systems in place to protect your money from financial crime. We would like to see the same protections for children online.”

The NSPCC said 4,500 children received counselling last year after they were coerced or forced into sexual activity.

The charity is demanding that later reported to the GMC and has since emigrated to Canada where he has opened his own practice. He claimed he suspected the girl was an adult posing as a child and he wanted to discover why. But the panel said it “did not consider the explanations to be credible”.

Awan will face further disciplinary hearings after which he could be struck off. the Government provides teachers with proper training so schoolchildren can learn about healthy relationships, consent and sex.

One 15-year-old boy Childline he was groomed 30-year-old man online.

“He asked me to play a video game, so we did,” he said. “After the game, he said he wanted to keep in touch, so I gave him my phone number.

“The next time we were online told by a