VOICE OF THE SUNDAY Mirror: New internet horror must be stopped.(Leaders)

THE internet brought a new danger to children from paedophiles. But Adrian Ringland raised it to an even more frightening level.

He preyed on young girls by taking control of their computers so that he could blackmail them into performing vile acts.

Thankfully Ringland was tracked down, prosecuted and is about to start what should be a long jail sentence.

But what he did is a stark warning of what parents and the police face in their efforts to protect the young.

Paedophiles are not just vile and dangerous. Many of them are also cunning. Ringland sent what looked like a harmless email to a girl but when she opened it her PC was infected with a virus which allowed him to take over her computer, including moving the cursor, opening the CD-rom tray and controlling the webcam.

He ordered one young victim in Canada to take a photo of her breast. He then threatened to send it to everyone in her address book unless she took pictures of her whole body. Luckily the girl told her parents, and Ringland was tracked down.

This disgusting man serves as a warning to parents that they must continually check what their children are doing when they are on the computer. Already there are many examples of how chat-rooms are abused. Now there is this even greater danger.

It must also be an added spur to the police to keep ahead of the tricks internet paedophiles are developing and to pursue them relentlessly.

It is bad enough when child abusers ply their perverted desires in other ways but for them to be able to do it in a young person's home - even in their bedroom - through the computer, is still worse.

Adrian Ringland and those like him need to be locked away where they can do no harm. And the hunt for these vile men must be even more determined.