Cbeebies porn shock as girl, 8, uses library computer

Kathryn Denny with her daughter Shaniqua

A HORRIFIED Chadderton mother has sounded a warning to parents across Oldham after her eight-year-old daughter was exposed to sickening porn on a library computer.

The incident happened when Kathryn Denny took her two young children, Shaniqua and Tyrell (11), to Chadderton library in Middleton Road to let them go on the Internet as a holiday treat.

But when Shaniqua and Kathryn typed in the website address of the popular BBC children’s channel, Cbeebies, they were bombarded with a series of graphic sexual images.

Kathryn (34) said: “The idea of an eight-year-old girl seeing what she saw makes me absolutely sick to the stomach.

“I had let my son Tyrell go on the Internet on his own and I sat Shaniqua on my knee and typed in Cbeebies. Then these vile pictures suddenly popped up.

“There weren’t any related links or anything and we didn’t see any blockers or pop ups. I’m 34 and not wet behind the ears, but the things that appeared really shocked me.

“Shaniqua was so surprised she let out a little yelp and has been asking me questions ever since about what she saw that I simply can’t answer.”

Kathryn has since complained to the council, but in the meantime is keen to warn other parents about the apparent lack of Internet security on library computers as the summer holidays get under way.

She said: “I can’t imagine what is going on in Shaniqua’s head now. I don’t want her to think that women should be treated like that — it’s sickening.

“And more worrying was the blasé attitude of the staff at the library.

“The woman I spoke to didn’t warn any of the other children who were there and simply said that they can’t protect people against everything, but I would question that.

“Surely it’s not beyond the capabilities of a local authority, with all its IT staff, to install proper filters and security systems on computers.”

Cabinet Member for Community Services and Housing, Councillor John McCann, said: “The firewall that protects our public Internet terminals is updated more than once a day but there are still occasions when unsavoury and offensive material does get through.

“Events such as this are extremely regrettable and breaches are reported immediately to IT security who ensure that they are blocked in future.

“However, due to the speed in which viruses and sites with similar sounding names to legitimate sounding domains appear there is always a possibility that events like this may occur.

“I am confident that the council is doing everything it can to ensure that security breaches are kept to a minimum.”