Tackling online child abuse is 'a kind of warfare'

An investigator who helps to get images of child abuse removed from the internet has warned of worrying trends and compared her job to fighting a war.

Last year, Cambridge-based charity the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) uncovered illegal content on 252,000 web pages.

It said 70% of victims were aged between 11 and 13 years old, 99% of the material featured girls and the content was increasingly being created by the victims themselves.

An IWF analyst, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "After years of experience, it's difficult not to be affected by it. You're looking at children being abused in the most cruel ways. It's a kind of warfare. It is a different kind of front line, and it goes as far as children's own bedrooms."