Manchester Evening News

Pervert used app to groom my little girl...

MUM’S WARNING AFTER NINE-YEAR-OLD ASKED TO SEND INAPPROPRI­ATE PICS

- By PADDY SHENNAN and HELEN JOHNSON helen.johnson@men-news.co.uk @helenj83ME­N

A MUM has spoken of her horror after discoverin­g that her nine-yearold daughter was being groomed through an app popular with children.

The little girl was targeted with messages for four months - asking her to send inappropri­ate photos of herself - by someone who threatened to ‘take her away from her mum’ if she did not comply.

Her mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, says she is particular­ly disturbed that the stranger used a private chat function on the app, because it enabled them to repeatedly contact her daughter without being detected, even though she was never allowed to use the app when she was alone.

The messages were sent and received while the primary school pupil was sitting in the same room as her parents at the family home, playing on her iPad.

The mother, who has spoken of her family’s ordeal in a bid to raise awareness, told the M.E.N. how her daughter had pleaded with her to install the ‘Likee’ app on her electronic tablet because ‘everyone in her class had it.’ After initially saying no, the mother said she spoke with her daughter’s dad and they agreed she could use it, on the condition that she kept the settings ‘private.’ The woman, who lives in Lancashire, also spoke to other mothers who told her the app, which allows users to create videos, was ‘harmless.’ However, the nine-year-old changed the settings to public without her parent’s knowledge, and was soon speaking to someone in a private chat function.

The little girl was led to believe that the person she was talking to her was her own age.

But the messages soon became sinister, with the stranger asking her to send pictures of herself and threatenin­g to take her away from her mum if she didn’t.

The terrified youngster eventually confided in her mother about what had been happening, and was so distraught that it took her hours to talk about it.

The child deleted her communicat­ion with the person, but her mother says police are now investigat­ing and working to

Mother of nineyear-old girl recover it. The little girl is still too upset and embarrasse­d to tell her mother everything the person said to her.

But when the woman accessed her daughter’s profile, she was given a disturbing insight into the kind of messages she had been receiving.

Within 30 minutes she received a number of messages calling her ‘babe’ and ‘sexy’ - from two people who would have assumed they were communicat­ing with a little girl.

The messages also suggested a game daring her to send photos of her legs.

“This is typical paedophile type chat. Do a game of dares: ‘I want to see all of you, send me pics babe,’” said the mother.

“She told me what they wanted in terms of pictures and she didn’t want to send them, but she was frightened that he would take her away from me.

She added: “I had to explain to her that there are some people who have sick ways of thinking, who believe it’s okay to have adult relationsh­ips with a child, but it’s actually illegal.

The mum is now also backing a petition calling for private messaging functions to be removed from apps used by under 13s.

The M.E.N. has approached the ‘Likee’ app for a comment.

 ??  ?? A mum said her daughter was harassed by a pervert via a tablet app
A mum said her daughter was harassed by a pervert via a tablet app

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