FBI investigation into child porn sites spans the world

A curious internet user browsing through the millions of websites was puzzled by the welcome message to one site.

"This group is for people who love kids," read the opening page. "You can post any type of messages you like or any type of pics and vids you like too. PS: If we all work together we will have the best group on the net." Just a click away the visitor found photographs and videos of children aged as young of one suffering the most awful sexual abuse.

The horrified surfer alerted the FBI bureau's in Houston, Texas, and sparked one of most widespread investigations into online child pornography.

An FBI agent posed as a paedophile and joined three websites, including one called Candyman, that offered subscribers pictures and videos involving child pornography. Paedophiles were also e-mailed pictures and were able to swap photographs.

That initial inquiry has led to Operation Candyman, an investigation that has uncovered the names of nearly 7,300 alleged subscribers to the pay-as-you-view pornography services on three internet sites based in Houston.

It in turn has passed on more than 2,000 names to police forces across the world. Hundreds of the suspected users are from Britain, including up to 30 police officers.

Britain's police forces have been sent details of all the suspects living in the UK and have been told to concentrate on their own officers and anyone working with children, such as teachers and care workers.

Several police officers and a Crown Prosecution Service solicitor are among more than 100 people who have already been arrested as part of the British leg of the inquiry.

Last night two police officers who were involved in the Soham murder case were charged with offences relating to the possession of indecent images of children. Detective Constable Brian Stevens, 41, a police liaison officer for the family of Jessica Chapman, and Police Constable Antony Goodridge, 34, are due in court this morning.

The internet service providers, including Yahoo!, which hosted the three websites, agreed to supply information about subscribers. On 18 March the FBI made a series of raids and arrests, including that of the alleged creator of the Candyman site, a man called Mark Bates who lived in Houston. He has since been charged with offences related to pornography.

An FBI spokeswoman said yesterday: "The photographs were graphic and vivid pictures of children being abused. They ranged from toddlers aged one or two to teenagers."

Those buying images had to give details of their credit cards, including billing addresses, and were sent an e-mail from the website with a user log-in and unique password. The police were able to track down the subscribers via these personal details.

The FBI has so far identified 51 children who were photo-graphed being sexually abused. They have charged 120 people, including clergymen, a school bus driver and a teacher's assistant, from 37 states.

Of the 7,300 subscribers, 2,400 had addresses abroad, many of them in Britain.

The credit card details and e-mail and billing addresses of British suspects who had subscribed between May 1999 and the summer of 2001 were sent to the National Criminal Intelligence Service's serious sex offenders unit. The unit randomly selected 50 suspects who were apprehended during a series of raids in May this year known as Operation Ore.

Thirty-six people were arrested during the operation, including a police officer serving at the headquarters of Grampian Police in Aberdeen. Two officers in England, one serving with Sussex Police in Hastings and the other with the Metropolitan Police, were also detained. Since May, arrests have continued as police forces have concentrated on suspects working with children or in sensitive jobs.

A solicitor with the Crown Prosecution Service was one of four people arrested in Staffordshire on Monday as part of the investigation.

Last month Detective Superintendent Peter Spindler, of the National Crime Squad, said: "This is the first time that we've targeted people who use the internet to buy images of children being sexually abused. We will continue these operations to protect children and show paedophiles that law enforcement agencies will find them, regardless of which area of the internet they use."

The crackdown has been welcomed by the Government and child protection groups which have been concerned that paedophiles are attempting to avoid detection by using websites based abroad.

The Home Office minister Beverley Hughes, who leads a government task force on child protection on the internet, has said: "The Government is determined to give the highest priority to protecting our children, on and off line, and to searching out and arresting those who prey upon them."

The National Crime Squad last year closed an internet paedophile ring known as the Wonderland Club which led to the jailing of seven paedophiles. It also led an operation last year in which officers in 19 countries simultaneously targeted people suspected of accessing paedophiliac images through internet newsgroups. An British officer involved in the Candyman inquiry said: "You can expect to see a lot more arrests yet, including police officers. This is only the start."

People found guilty of possessing images of child abuse face up to five years in prison.