Pupils posing as paedophiles in cyber-bullying, police warn

Confirmation that 'Stewart Home' is not alone (so to speak) in populating (anti-)social networking sites with pathological quasi-doubles, incubi, revenants or whatever else.  Cornwall police claim that schoolchildren have been 'impersonating paedophiles' on MSN and Bebo chatrooms in an evil plot to scare 'rival'[sic] kids.  Are these the same chatrooms that the ever-vigilant, Hardworking Families-friendly Guardian recently warned have had their Family Filters hacked to pieces by precocious but somehow still defenceless infants?  And how, exactly, does the 'very extreme and worrying' practice of 'impersonating paedophiles' work, given that up till now we've been led to believe that the web is prowled by paedophiles impersonating children?  Do the sly young perpetrators assume the personae of 'perfectly normal' pre-teens in order to haunt their classmates with the spectre of a bad adult subject lurking behind?

Pupils posing as paedophiles in cyber-bullying, police warn

Steven MorrisThursday April 10, 2008The Guardian

Children as young as 10 may be posing as predatory paedophiles on internet networking sites to frighten boys and girls they have fallen out with, police revealed yesterday. Officers have warned parents and children to be vigilant after as many as nine youngsters in Padstow, Cornwall, were targeted through the networking sites Bebo and MSN.

Police initially believed a local man was trying to groom the children by befriending them online and arranging to meet them. But a member of the public has come forward and told them that youngsters are trying to settle playground disputes by posing as a paedophile to frighten their rivals.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall police said: "Information from the public has highlighted a possibility that the offenders could be children aged 10 and over, masquerading as a paedophile. The investigations are continuing and at this moment we are looking into every line of inquiry and are not ruling out any possibility. However, the language used on the social networking sites such as Bebo and MSN is at times childish. It could be youngsters playing a sick game to try and intimidate friends they have fallen out with. This will be treated seriously and we will be contacting the families of the children involved and we will try and help them by involving social services."

Police urged parents in Cornwall to keep a close eye on the websites their children were looking at. The spokesman added: "We would appeal to anyone who has information about this to please contact us immediately so we can continue with our investigations to get this stopped."

A spokesman for the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre said: "We have many incidents of cyber-bullying - where children use the internet as a forum to pursue grievances - but have not heard of this happening before. It sounds like a very extreme and worrying course of action."