COMMUNITY leaders believe more needs to be done to tackle the risk of extremist propaganda finding its way to children after the Blackburn teenager pleaded guilty to terrorism offences.

Faz Patel, a community cohesion expert in Blackburn and extremism advisor, said: “As a community we need to wake up to the fact that there is a crisis in the type of ISIS propaganda that is available and so easily accessible online.

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“It’s appalling that a 15-year-old boy from Blackburn could be involved in such things, and I have parents contacting me saying they are concerned about teenagers going on holiday to Turkey and what material is available online.

“The Government needs to do more to stop this fanatical, poisonous and dangerous propaganda from being so readily available.

“We all condemn this but we need to realise that more needs to be done, this needs to be a wake-up call.”

Jack Straw, former Blackburn MP and now chairman of Blackburn Youth Zone, said: “This is shocking. It underlines the message from the Prime Minister about tackling this Jihadism head on.

“The fundamental responsibility must lay with the families of these youngsters, but there is a wider role for all communities.”

Abdul Hamid Qureshi, said: “This is very distressing and it is something we are all worried about.

“It is particularly concerning that children of this age are managing to get involved in such things.

“Hard work is required to tackle this.

“This is an age where children are exploring and finding themselves, it is a dangerous age already so we need to make sure they are not susceptible to this kind of ideology online.”