Sexually explicit texts used to bully young people

The survey of more than 2,000 under-18s by bullying prevention charity Beatbullying revealed 45 per cent of "sexts" sent were from a peer, 23 per cent from a current boyfriend or girlfriend and two per cent from an adult.

Common "sexts" included images, which could be deemed pornographic, including young girls and boys exposing themselves, masturbating or performing other sexual acts. Material is then being Bluetoothed, uploaded onto social networks or sent around by text, according to the research.

Beatbullying describes "sexting" as an extension of cyber bullying and believes young people can be pressurised to produce sexualised material or images, which can then be redistributed and designed to hurt and humiliate them.

Emma-Jane Cross, chief executive of Beatbullying, said young people needed to be educated about the consequences of their actions and how to remain safe both on and offline.

She said: "It is important that parents and schools are aware that ‘sexting' is a significant issue among our children and young people, so together we can act to stop this kind of behaviour before it escalates into something far more problematic."

In the US and Australia teenagers have faced charges of sexual abuse after text messages fell into the wrong hands.

US teenager Jessica Logan, 18, committed suicide in March after naked pictures of her were distributed by an ex-boyfriend and she was bullied by her peers.