A Bournemouth-based online magazine for teenage girls has closed its chat room to protect them from paedophiles.

Wickedcolors.com at Dean Park Crescent has 145,000 girls between the age of 11 and 17 on its website and attracts 4.5 million page impressions every month.

Most members use the site every day to meet up with friends and access celebrity gossip, competitions, reviews, fashion and shopping.

Wickedcolors marketing manager Lucy Laverack said: "We have closed the chat room due to the dangers of exposing children on the internet.

"Wickedcolors has taken this action in an attempt to protect their teenage girl members from paedophiles."

The chat room opened on June 9 last year. An online survey showed a small group of members had built up a close community and tended to visit at certain times.

Lucy said: "Following a staff meeting we decided it was not in our interests to keep the chat room open.

"We have not had any problems with paedophiles. We monitored the chat room every day and stressed to members how important it was to keep their personal details private.

"But we believe there should be proper guidelines for chat rooms. When these are introduced we will re-open the chat room. In the meantime an off-line magazine will be launched.

"We take security on the net extremely seriously. Every site and portal has a responsibility to place the safety of children and teens before any other factor, and that includes profit."

Dc Rupert Evernden of the Dorset police vice squad welcomed Wickedcolors' decision to close its chat room.

He said: 'This is a very responsible step, considering recent publicity regarding stalking incidents and the threat that can be posed to young girls.

"The problem with chat rooms is that you never know who you are talking to."