11-year-olds ‘sexting’ naked images

CHILDREN as young as 11 have been caught ‘sexting’ naked pictures of themselves to strangers, police say.

Officers have investigated incidents where primary school children have taken intimate images of themselves and passed them to others using smartphones.

Police Scotland revealed teams of child protection officers have been dealing with disturbing cases involving young children.

Detective Chief Inspector Fil Capaldi, who leads the Public Protection Unit at Renfrew Police Office, has issued a warning of the dangers of possible ‘predatory’ activity by paedophiles.

He said: ‘We have dealt with cases involving primary seven pupils. The second a child uses his or her mobile phone to send an inappropriate photo message, they lose control of it and goodness knows where that message could pop up in the future.

‘Once you send an image to somebody, you’ve no idea what they’ll do with it. If you send an image to someone you don’t know, they could be a predatory paedophile.’

Sexting first came to public attention in 2009. Recently, it has been blamed alongside selfies and social media for a spike in mental health issues affecting children in Scotland. New figures show the number of Scots teenagers and children having psychiatric treatment doubled in four years.

ChildLine yesterday reported a rise in calls to its helpline, with many young callers giving sexting and online bullying as the causes of their distress. Sexting is thought to be fuelling a surge in anxiety disorders, while anorexia victims blame selfies for making them more self-conscious.

DCI Capaldi added: ‘If you give your child a smartphone, you should know what they are doing with it. Would you allow a paedophile into your house and into your son’s or daughter’s bedroom? Of course not, so don’t let them contact your children via their phone.’