POLICE today stressed that children were not only being targeted by groups of Asian males for sex but by on-line paedophiles who are predominantly white.

Det Chief Insp Neil Hunter from Blackburn police explained that while there was a big difference between the offences that Operation Engage targets and internet grooming, in both cases young people found themselves being sexually exploited.

He also revealed that there had been a number of cases in Lancashire where paedophiles befriended vulnerable youngsters on the internet before carrying out serious sex offences.

DCI Hunter said: "Paedophiles are known to use chatrooms, e-mail and instant messaging to gain a child's confidence and then to often arrange a face-to-face meeting.

"People can pretend to be anyone they want to be when they are online so adults pretend to be children and vice versa.

"Often the anonymity of the internet encourages children to give away more personal details than they should and they may end up in a situation that because of their age, naivity and lack of experience they simply can't deal with.

"In a bid to exit the situation, some children will pass their friend's details on to the person who had been harassing them.

"The internet predator will then say he knows their friend and the child will drop their defensive barriers and give that person information about themselves."

Last year DCI Hunter was instrumental in putting together a DVD and education pack for schools that was based around the case of a schoolgirl victim of an East Lancashire paedophile.

The girl's harrowing story and details of the chatroom predator's grooming methods were revealed on a special DVD called Jenny's Story.' Jenny's Story' was produced by Lancashire police and children's charity Childnet after the schoolgirl told officers she wanted to help prevent others being sexually abused by an internet predator.

Jenny, not her real name, was groomed through an internet chatroom by a man who posed as a female model offering modelling opportunities. But when she eventually agreed to meet up, she was indecently assaulted by the man.

DCI Hunter said: "The only way we can combat these predators is through education and providing youngsters with real life case studies that they can relate to."

Doctor Rachel O'Connell, director of research at the Cyberspace Research Unit, the Department for Forensic and Investigative Science at the University of Central Lancashire, said parents must be vigilant for their child's safety."