A TEENAGE girl, who was a victim of an internet sexual predator, has spoken out for the first time today to warn other young people of the hidden dangers of the world wide web.

Amy was just 12 when Oliver Randall, 20, from Bridport, made first contact through a social networking site.

She warned today of the perils of the net and credited her ‘nosy’ mum for saving her from Randall.

Randall was jailed in December 2008 for four years, for grooming children online, making and taking indecent images of children and engaging in sexual activity with under-age girls.

It is believed more than 40 girls aged between 12 and 18 from Dorset and Somerset were involved in the case.

Randall’s young victim spoke out to promote a new awareness campaign highlighting the dangers of strangers targeting youngsters on social networking sites.

Amy, now 14, explained how they first met online.

She said: “He asked me my age and we began to chat about all sorts of things from music to things we liked and disliked.

“There was no swearing in there so it made me think he was respectful.

“He said he was 18 so I felt comfortable talking to him because he was older and wiser.

“He asked me where I lived and I know it was a mistake to tell him, but the general conversation seemed okay so I wasn’t worried.”

However, Amy says the conversation soon turned quite serious.

“It suddenly got quite scary as he started making sexual references which wasn’t very nice.

“I tried not to talk to him but it was hard, because he always seemed to be online and he always had something to say.

“One day he asked me if I would send him pictures of myself and I said no.

“Then, he would continue by asking how far I had gone, sexually, with a boy.

“This all happened within about a week. I can’t believe how quickly he advanced.

“I thought he was trusting, I thought he was listening to me, but it turns out, he had a different agenda.”

During a conversation with a friend on an instant messenger service, Amy, accidentally sent her mobile number to Randall, instead of her friend.

He then began to exchange text messages with Amy, even attempting to organise a meeting with her.

However, Amy’s mother Kathy discovered the lurid messages on the phone and confronted Amy about the situation.

Kathy said: “When I first found the text messages, I was in utter shock.

“I was sat there, hunched-foreword, shaking and sweating, and I actually dropped the phone onto the floor.

“I was worried that I had destroyed any evidence of this man’s unacceptable conversations with my daughter.

“I soon discovered that the contact linked to the internet.

“Realising the seriousness of the situation, I immediately called the police.

“Amy was incredibly lucky, because she was probably 24 hours away from being raped.”

Randall admitted 23 charges – which included engaging a child under 13 in sexual activity, inciting a girl under 13 in sexual activity, grooming children on the internet and making and taking indecent images of children.

A further 60 charges were taken into consideration at Dorchester Crown Court.

Amy is relieved that the police caught up with Randall.

She said: “He did very nasty stuff to others.

“Obviously I’m glad it didn’t happen to me, but I was lucky because my mum found out what was going on. My nosy mum literally saved me from getting hurt.”

Kathy admitted that friends were surprised it happened to their family.

She said: “We have a bit of a reputation of being quite a strict family, and friends and family were quite shocked that this happened to us.

“Despite having controls about internet usage, where the computer is located in our home and what they are allowed to download, Oliver Randall was able to infiltrate our home and target my daughter.

“I am just so relieved that I found out when I did.”

TEENAGERS from Weymouth are warning other young people of the dangers of using internet social networking sites.

Nine youngsters from the Steps youth club in Chickerell Road hope to encourage fellow teens to be web-wise by producing a short film to be shown at schools and youth clubs in Dorset.

Budmouth pupil Sarah Meecham, 16, of Rodwell, was the victim of unwanted attention through MSN instant messenger when some men from London contacted her last year.

She said: “Nearly everyone in our group has had some sort of problem in one way or another.

“I was contacted by some guys from London who were trying to get me to go up there.

“They kept inviting me to parties and offering to come and pick me up.

“I could tell they weren’t English from the way they were writing.

“It was a bit scary to be honest as I didn’t know how they had got on to my account.”

She added: “I basically told them ‘I’m not going up because I don’t know you’ and they just kept pestering me so I deleted them.

“My advice to other young people is not to give out any information to people you don’t know.

“You wouldn’t just go up to a stranger in the street and say ‘hi’ and then get in their car.

“If you have any problems tell an adult or someone you trust straight away.

“Also, it’s really important to check your privacy settings because most social networking sites start off being open to everyone and you have to choose to have it private.”

Users of social networking sites such as Bebo, Facebook and MySpace can set up profiles for themselves with pictures and information, post comments and have visits from other users.

Geo West, 16, of Rodwell, Weymouth, said: “You have to protect yourself because no one else can protect you.

“Don’t arrange to meet up with people you don’t know.

“People are quite good about disguising who they really are – just because you’re being genuine doesn’t mean other people are.”

The web-wise video, which is being made by the Youth Achievements Award Group at Steps, will be completed in the next couple of weeks.

Several members of the group have shared their stories on it and Weymouth policeman Geoff Calloway has also been interviewed to warn young people of internet dangers.

Budmouth student Alaska Harris, 16, of Westham was ‘freaked out’ when a man she did not know contacted her on Bebo.

She said: “He kept saying ‘I’ll meet you at the swimming pool’ and knew my name and that I lived in Weymouth.

“I ended up deleting my Bebo site because I got really freaked out.

“I’m not trying to stop people going on social networking sites because they use them to talk to friends. But don’t give out too much information about yourself.

“If a site requires you to enter an address and phone number put in fake ones.”