Boy ‘sent naked selfie to classmate’

A 14-year-old boy who sent a naked picture of himself to a classmate will be on a police database for 10 years.

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London -

Teenagers should not be criminalised for “sexting”, children's campaigners have warned after it emerged that a boy who sent a naked picture of himself to a classmate will be on a police database for 10 years.

The action was taken by police against the 14-year-old, who has not been named, after he sent the photograph by Snapchat - a video messaging app - to a girl of the same age in his class who then shared it with others.

Despite not being arrested or charged, the schoolboy is now on a national intelligence database after the image came to the attention of a police officer based at the school in the North of England.

It is not known whether any action was taken against the girl who shared the image.

The incident has been recorded as the crime of making and distributing an indecent image, the boy's mother told BBC Radio 4's Today on Thursday.

“He was in his bedroom at his dad's the night before, he was flirting with the girl and he sent a picture of himself,” she said.

Her son's file will remain active for at least 10 years and could be brought to the attention of potential future employers conducting an advanced Disclosure and Barring Service check.

“I think at best he was naive and at worst he was just a teenager,” she commented.

Sexting is “just how teenagers flirt these days,” his mother added.

“I shouldn't have done it...It's just annoying really, something that I did when I was 14 that could reflect badly in future,” said her son.

Claude Knights, the chief executive of Kidscape, said: “Kidscape's main plea would be to guard against criminalising young people, as a growing number of teenagers are at risk of being unfairly labelled as sex offenders under current UK law.”

Olivia Pinkney, Deputy Chief Constable of Sussex and the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for young people, commented: “Schools have the ability to deal with situations as they see fit. If any party chooses to report the incident to police, the Home Office counting rules are clear that it must be recorded as a crime.”

The Independent