The dangers of children using internet chatrooms is revealed

An 11-year-old girl in County Londonderry who gave her e-mail address to a stranger was lured to a public park and assaulted.

A 12-year-old Belfast boy was left partially clothed in a bedroom, after being convinced he was gay.

The shocking revelations are contained in BBC Northern Ireland's Spotlight programme following an investigation into the dangers to children on the internet.

Some of the online conversations have been so explicit they amount to serious sexual abuse Mandy McAuley BBC NI reporter

Chief Inspector Willie McAuley, who deals with online abuse cases, said the case of the 12-year-old boy, was one of the worst he had encountered.

"The parents of the young boy discovered what was going on after they found indecent images amongst his possessions," he said.

"We did see very clearly that the grooming process was working.

"The young boy had every intention - through gathering up money from his savings and making preparations to go to London - to meet this individual.

"When we eventually tracked down the individual through his e-mail address we discovered it was a 52-year-old man."

Rachael O'Connell who advises the Home Office Internet Task Force said:

"There are adults with a sexual interest in children, who use chatrooms to gain access to children to groom them, lure them, engage them in virtual child sexual abuse and potentially then to try to meet them offline."

For six months, Spotlight reporter Mandy McAuley posed as a teenager, using various names and ages from 12 to 15, in an attempt to turn the tables on adults who prey on children.

Sickened

She said she was shocked and sickened by what she had found, often physically shaken by the sexually explicit nature of the conversations.

She said she never imagined so many men would make sexual advances to a child and be so "brutal" in their approach.

"Some of them had absolutely no conscience at all," she said. "Some of these conversations went on for hours.

"Day after day I've been approached by scores of men. Some of the online conversations have been so explicit they amount to serious sexual abuse.

"An alarming number of men were determined to arrange a face to face meeting with a child."

One 32-year-old man who thought she was 13, sent her e-mails, wanting her to get a pass out of school to meet him.

Another man, claiming to be 21, said he would meet her at a train station, take her to his house for sex and give her money for clothes and CDs.

She said she was initially targeted in public chatrooms but then lured into a private conversation, being asked if she was alone and if she had a boyfriend. Then the conversations would turn to sex.

Stan Mallon was jailed in the United States

But she said the most shocking thing was that the parents thought the children were safe in their bedrooms.

"They had absolutely no idea their children were being groomed by paedophiles," she added.

Some predators try to groom the child, others resort to intimidation.

New legislation being introduced, which will make online grooming a criminal offence, is likely to be in place in Northern Ireland by the end of the year.

Nigel Williams, chief executive of ChildNet UK, was shown transcripts of a conversation between Mandy and a 33-year-old man who tried to blackmail her.

He said he had never seen as explict a case of blackmail.

"He's really putting unfair pressure on the young child who he thinks he is talking to. That would be very frightening."

In March this year, the 62-year-old former acting chief executive of the Ulster-Scots Agency was jailed after admitting a child sex offence.

Stan Mallon from County Antrim admitted using an internet chatroom to contact a girl called "Marny" who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.

He had arranged a meeting in a Chicago hotel room.

During her investigations, Mandy McAuley confronted a man to whom she had been in contact with via the internet and telephone.

Spotlight is broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland at 2235 BST on Tuesday.