February 4, 2007
Children film sex on their mobiles
Children are using mobile phones to film each other having sex and are then sending the images to classmates, reports The Sunday Times.
"Experts say the trend is growing and draw comparisons to the “happy slapping” craze in which children use mobile phone cameras to film assaults on members of the public.
Two weeks ago a 13-year-old boy was caught with footage on his mobile phone of two fellow pupils aged 15 having sex near their school in Warwickshire.
In another case last summer a 16-year-old boy used his mobile phone to film a 14-year-old girl having sex in a bedroom at a house party in Perth and sent the images to his school friends.
Some blame the trend on the ease with which children can access pornography on the internet or mobiles, so they become desensitised to images normally regarded as shocking.
Andrew Durham, a consultant practitioner at the Sexualised Inappropriate Behaviours Service, which deals with children’s sexual problems, said: “It is now a feature within young people’s culture that these incidences get filmed. It is similar to the way people use phones to film others being assaulted.”
... Experts believe many children are unaware that sending pornographic images can fall foul of the law.
Last month, in one of the first such court cases, a 16-year old boy admitted passing on video footage of a friend having sex with an underage girl. "
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