PARENTS’ HORROR AFTER GIRL,9, IN She’d play the game all night & wet herself so she didn’t have to stop

A GIRL of nine is in rehab after becoming addicted to a video game that is gripping the nation’s kids.

Her horrified parents last night told how their daughter is in intensive therapy after getting hooked on the Fortnite game.

The obsessed primary school pupil...

SECRETLY got up in the night and played until dawn.

NEGLECTED to go to the toilet because she could not bear to leave the screen.

HIT her father in the face when he tried to confiscate her Xbox gaming console.

DOZED OFF in class because of her night-time addiction.

Experts fear she is one of many children at risk of developing mental health problems as a result of over-exposure to the fight-to-the-death scenarios.

Over 40 million have downloaded the so-called survival shooter game since it was launched last July, sparking record numbers of digital addiction.

The girl’s mum last night said: “We had no idea, when we let her play the game, of the addictive nature or the impact it could have on her mental health. She is in therapy for the addiction after she became withdrawn, agitated and disturbed from playing up to ten hours a day – sometimes playing until dawn, wetting herself so she didn’t have to leave the screen.

“This is a serious issue which is destroying our little girl’s life and someone needs to step in to ban it before it becomes an epidemic.”

Fortnite has been endorsed by a multitude of top sport and music stars.

The game’s most popular format is the Battle Royale in which 100 players fight each other until one is left standing.

Although the game is free to download, its developers make money from hooked users who pay for in-game purchases to boost their performances.

Mum Carol, 36, said they bought their daughter an Xbox in January and shortly after she downloaded Fortnite.

She and her husband Richard, who we are not picturing to protect the identity of their daughter, say it was not until midmarch they noticed worrying signs.

Carol said: “We got called in by her head teacher asking if everything OK. She had fallen asleep twice in lessons and her grades were slipping. “When we asked our daughter what the problem was, she became unusually argumentative and aggressive, which we just put down to her hormones.”

But soon the sports-mad girl started saying she too tired to go to gym or ballet classes, as well as missing the family visits to church on Sunday mornings. Noticing small but regular paywas ments on their credit card to Microsoft, adding up to over £50 a month, they asked if she knew anything about this.

The mum said: “Our daughter told us it could be some extras she’d paid for on Fortnite.

“Of course we were furious