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New Zealand computer animations in which a dolphin named Hector warns children as young as five about the dangers of on-line paedophiles are to be used in Britain.
The series of five NZ animations with Hector and his friends exploring issues such as personal information, trustworthiness, and making positive choices when they use the internet is being introduced by the UK Child Exploitation and on-line Protection Centre.
The child protection centre investigates and prosecutes paedophiles, and over the past year it removed 131 children from sexual abuse, arrested nearly 300 suspected child-sex offenders and dealt with about a million images of child sex-abuse.
According to Liz Butterfield, managing director of Hector's World Ltd - a charitable subsidiary of internet safety group Netsafe - the animations have been used in New Zealand since 2005.
She said the software was crucial to keeping children safe from on-line risks such as cyber-stalking, identity theft, cyber-bullying, scams and grooming for sexual abuse.
"It's all about who to give their personal information out to and when they should not...to help them understand that risk."
- NZPA
