Publisher contacts libraries after website in children’s book hijacked by porn site | Schools

Children’s publisher Puffin is rushing to contact UK schools and local authorities after discovering that a website address for a popular children’s book series has been hijacked by a pornography site.

The publisher has urged school libraries to remove books after a website addressed them by Andrew Cope in the Spy Dog, Spy Pups and Spy Cat series.

Puffin, whose Penguin is a random house imprint, said it was “immediately pausing” the affected books, aimed at children aged seven to 12, and working to get libraries to remove the books from their shelves.

Some schools in England have reported receiving emails compromising them, including a warning that new content contains “inappropriate material featuring children’s characters”.

A school in West Sussex wrote to parents: “We have been made aware of a safeguarding alert linked to the children’s book series Spy Dog/Pups and Spy Cat by author Andrew Cope.

“These books contain a link to a website to learn more about the character (identified on the back or inside page). This link has now been compromised and takes users to a pornographic website with no age verification.”

A statement released on behalf of Cope and Puffin said: “In some editions of the Spy Dog, Spy Cat and Spy Pups series there is a reference to the old website of the series owned and run by Andrew Cope.

“We understand that an unaffiliated third party has very recently taken control of the domain and used it to display a different website containing inappropriate adult content. This website is not associated with Puffin or Andrew Cope. We would ask people not to visit the website and neither should children.

“We take this extremely seriously and are acting as a matter of urgency through the appropriate channels to have this website removed. This is an in-depth and complex legal process and will take time. We have immediately paused the sale and distribution of the books while we deal with this matter.”

The first in the series, Spy Dog, was released in 2005 and introduced Lara, a dog trained by the secret service who works undercover with an unwitting family. Another 11 stories followed, and another series of spy kittens and spy cat spin-offs followed from 2009 to 2015.

Hampshire’s school library service has sent a warning to parents about “unsafe material” on its website. “If you have any of these books at home, you may want to take a look and take appropriate action,” he said.