A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl was left in tears and scared someone "could hurt her and her family" after she was sent sexually explicit messages through a popular app.

The girl's mum, from St Helens, who will remain anonymous, was cautious when her daughter pleaded with her to download an app her friends were using in school.

The mum said no, however, after asking other parents, she was reassured that this was in use and that it just allowed them to edit funny videos and images, so allowed her daughter to download it.

But the app does have a messaging facility built in, meaning that the young schoolgirl was soon speaking to someone in a private chat.

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The girl thought she was speaking to a boy her own age and was "excited and having cool conversations" but it soon turned sinister when the person asked her to send inappropriate pictures of herself.

The mum said: "We are quite neurotic over protecting our children, so when she asked if she could have an App on her iPad and I said no because I had no idea what it was about.

"She was really upset and said that everyone in her class at school had access to it.

"I spoke to a few parents on the playground who said it was harmless, so I agreed to install it."

However, her parents were completely unaware that in January this year, their little girl was being messaged by a person, believed to be an adult man, or a group of adult men, in private chats facilitated by the app.

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The mum said: "My daughter asked for a private chat with me in spring time and it took three hours for her to say to me that she had been scared after getting messages from someone she thought was a little boy but who had starting asking her for inappropriate pictures.

"When she refused this person then threatened her saying that he knows where she lives and could hurt her and her family if she did not.

"She was in tears and would not look me in the eyes. My daughter, my little girl, was traumatised by what this person said.

"I had to explain to her that she did nothing wrong and of course we deleted the app and contacted the police.

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"I am a vigilant parent, my children have to ask before anything is downloaded and they are monitored, so if this has happened to my child it could easily happen to someone else's

"I cannot even express how I feel, I've struggled to sleep, having to hide my feelings from my daughter, who is still so traumatised by what happened."

Since this happened, the mum has launched a petition calling for the government to bring in a law which removes and forbids private messenger/chat functions in any Apps used by children under the age of 13.

She added: "Technology is an amazing thing that can help our children learn, the world is changing I know that.

"But we need to put steps in place to protect our children against predators who hide behind apps clearly aimed at young children.

"I have been told through researching this that around 90 per cent of online grooming takes place through the messaging function on apps.

"Our children need protecting and we need to work together to protect them."

To sign the petition go to petition.parliament.uk and type in 'Ban chat functions in Apps used by children under 13 yrs old'