I’M sure that paedophiles have always been with us in one way or another but there really does seem to be a greater threat to our children from them today.

Perhaps it’s because the internet has allowed them to be both better connected with each other and better able to hide their vile activities in the Dark Web.

Somehow, the school holidays when children are quite literally left to their own devices more often and not supervised in school, seems to make parents and grandparents even more concerned. But, then, we do need to be vigilant on our youngsters’ behalf here.

Being more technology-savvy and monitoring what children are looking at is now vital and more of us are definitely getting the message.

We also need to be more careful about people who volunteer to work with children. One Bolton man who volunteered with air cadets had downloaded thousands of indecent images of children. Plainly, such an individual is totally unsuitable to be around any child.

Conversely, there are also groups of people who track down paedophiles online, often tricking them into meeting someone they believe to be a young girl or boy.

Billy Duffy, ages 32, has just been jailed by Bolton Crown Court after being caught by paedophile hunters from Creep Catchers UK. He had logged into an internet chat site under the name “Bolton Guy” and arranged to meet someone he believed was a 13 year-old girl.

Their online conversation had quickly turned to one of a sexual nature. He suggested they meet in Manchester for a “proper chat and a drink” and suggested sexual activities.

This is the stuff of nightmares for any parent or carer and, unfortunately, one that isn’t rare today. It’s easy to imagine youngsters being taken in by online attention from someone who sounds interested in them, possibly pretending to be their own age. They may even agree to meet up, little realising the danger they put themselves in.

While we don’t want to frighten children unnecessarily or make them too scared to socialise with anyone, we cannot stress too much the online dangers that lurk when they are left to themselves.

We all need to be much more aware of what can happen and to instil this in our children and grandchildren. No-one wants a much loved child to become the victim of the immoral and unscrupulous who prey on youngsters.