A mother has told Sky News how her 11-year-old daughter was coached into sending sexually explicit photos of herself to men online and how it escalated into physical sexual abuse.
Warning: This article contains details that may be disturbing to some readers.
According to the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), it is a growing problem and self-generated child abuse images – in which a child is encouraged by someone online to engage in sexualised behaviour – now make up a large proportion of the images it removes from the internet.
She calls on the new government to make child safety online a priority.
A senior police officer also called for stronger protection for young girls online. Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, the national lead on violence against women and girls, said the influence of young boys online was “quite terrifying”.
The mother of the 11-year-old girl, who we’ll call Hailey, says she is speaking to Sky News because she feels her daughter has been failed by police and social services.
She also feels like she has “no one left to turn to,” adding: “I think she’s going to end up dead or kidnapped. She’s meeting people she doesn’t even know.”
Read more: Violence against women and girls reaches ‘staggering levels’
“Constant messages” followed by threats
Hailey says the whole problem started when an older boy asked her daughter for a picture of her in a bra.
The 11-year-old girl, who we’ll call Michaela, agreed to send it.
Hailey says, “A picture was sent to one boy, then to a whole class. Then to other kids in the school. Then to four different schools. Then to everyone outside of school, to anyone and everyone.”
Hailey speaks to Sky News Editor Jason Farrell
Michaela’s photo and phone number were added to all-male online chat groups.
When Hailey checked her daughter’s phone, she found boys and men asking for more explicit photos and some sending the 11-year-old intimate photos of themselves.
Hailey says, “There’s just messages, constant messages and when she says no, there’s threats.”
Sky News has seen some of these messages which include threats and requests for sexual images.
After a while, Michaela started to disappear.
Hailey says: “She would run away, go to parks, perform sexual services, take money from people we didn’t know. My sister and I would chase her and she would disappear.”
Hailey believes the deluge of inappropriate sexual attention online has had a devastating impact on Michaela, now 13.
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Warning of a “hidden pandemic”
At age 12, an educational psychological assessment revealed that Michaela had “low self-esteem” and “sought opportunities to gain approval,” which led to a “fixation on social media” and “positive feedback and approval from others.”
The report said she became “known for sharing sexual images” and was sexually abused by “unknown men.”
Another council report states: “Police were involved in the investigation of various crimes against (Michaela) including statutory rape, child sexual exploitation, sending indecent images of a child/minor and sexual assault.”
In May this year, a study by the University of Edinburgh’s Global Child Safety Institute warned of a “hidden pandemic”, with a study predicting that one in eight children, It’s more than 300 million worldwideare victims of online sexual exploitation and abuse.
According to the IWF, the age group most exploited for sending inappropriate images is 11 to 13 year olds, almost entirely girls.
Last year, they discovered 275,000 child abuse web pages – a quarter of a million of them, or 92%, contained images where the child had photographed himself.
Tamsin McNally, IWF hotline manager, said: “We are increasingly seeing children aged seven to 10 years old depicted in these images and sometimes they don’t know what they are doing is sexual. They are being asked to take part in a game.”
“These photos and videos then spread across the Internet.
“Everyone is just a few clicks away from accidentally stumbling upon this type of content, which is why we have a public reporting page available to people who find it.”
The IWF wants the new government to legislate for better age verification to prevent children accessing inappropriate content online and ensure additional security measures are introduced into end-to-end encrypted messaging apps.
Chief Executive Susie Hargreaves OBE said: “The continued rollout of end-to-end encrypted messaging apps without additional security features risks creating safe spaces for predators to distribute child sexual abuse images.
“The new ministers will have a very busy agenda, but it is essential that they tackle these challenges from the outset.”
“The police always tell me it’s my fault”
Hailey also wants better policing.
She reported what was happening to her daughter early on, but believes the police failed to investigate properly and the authorities failed to protect her.
Hailey says that after reporting an online threat of violence against her daughter, the officer came to their home and only told Michaela about her online presence, but did not properly investigate the person who made the threats.
The mother also believes she was criticised for allowing her daughter to have a telephone and internet access.
She says her daughter has lost confidence in the police.
In a handwritten letter to Sky News, Michaela said in her own words: “The police keep telling me it’s my fault. Since I was eleven years old I have been sexually assaulted and none of my cases have been taken care of, they have all been closed.”
A letter Michaela wrote to Sky’s Jason Farrell
Hailey feels like the police washed their hands of her daughter.
She said: “They keep saying my daughter doesn’t want to talk. They can’t do anything without Michaela making a statement.”
“And I say, ‘But I’m doing it on her behalf because she’s only 11, 12, 13.'”
“And they just say to me, ‘If Michaela’s not willing to talk, we can’t do it.’ But I say, ‘But she’s mentally disturbed. She’s not capable of it. Maybe she’s afraid, maybe she’s petrified.’
Council wrongly sends names of vulnerable children
Hailey also criticizes social services. She claims that one social worker did not respond to messages and another only advised her to “pray.”
She is also concerned about data breaches, saying that on six occasions the council mistakenly sent her personal information about vulnerable children.
Hailey explains that this includes: “Information about the children, their names, addresses, phone numbers, where they live, what school they go to, what happens to them, any abuse they’re experiencing, why social services are involved, the names of the parents – everything.”
She claims it included personal information about a boy accused of sexually assaulting her daughter, including the fact that he had previously faced a similar charge.
Tamsin McNally is the IWF Hotline Manager
In a letter, social services apologized but added that they would not inform those affected about the data breach.
Hailey feels her daughter is still vulnerable.
A social worker has written to the council warning that she is “in danger” and should be moved out of the area.
One advocate also wrote in an email: “How many more protection alerts need to be issued before the child receives the help he or she so desperately needs?”
To protect the child’s identity we have chosen not to name the area of the UK she is from, but we have contacted the local authority who confirmed to Sky News that they had received the ‘at risk’ warning but said it was the final decision of the receiving local authority regarding any housing offer made.
The council also confirmed several data breaches, but insisted they had been properly investigated and handled.
A council spokesperson added: “We have a clear strategy and commitment to support children vulnerable to child sexual exploitation. This includes planning, intervention and rigorous review by a multi-agency team of professionals focused on child sexual exploitation.
“The plans are tailored to young people and provide targeted intervention to reduce risk. We work collaboratively with young people and their families to ensure that the voices of victims are always heard and families are strengthened accordingly.”
Police struggle to identify suspects
A local police spokesperson told us that Michaela had received support and that several police investigations had been carried out.
First, after she shared an image of herself with another boy in 2022, but the image was not deemed indecent, and so they focused on education – “offering advice and support on the boundaries, choices and implications of sharing intimate images.”
They also investigated after Michaela was sexually assaulted in a retail park, but “due to a lack of CCTV and direct witness evidence, no suspects have been identified”.
In October last year, they investigated after Michaela was sent an image of the incident by a man she had met online, who then threatened her.
Police said that “difficulties in gathering evidence at the time meant that no suspects were identified” but added that “a further review of the circumstances has identified other lines of enquiry which are currently being explored”.
A police spokesperson added: “As a police force, we work hard to ensure that all victims of sexual abuse, regardless of their age, feel able to come forward to tell us about their experiences. We are ready to listen, believe and support, while taking action against those responsible.
“It is recognised that this young girl is at high risk of sexual exploitation and her needs and the support she requires are therefore regularly discussed at partnership meetings.
“We will never seek to blame a victim for the sexual assaults they suffered, and we are committed to continuing to work with the girl and her family to ensure her safety.
“It is essential that all victims of sexual abuse, regardless of their age, come forward to tell us about their experiences.”
