A series of children’s books is being pulled from circulation after a hidden link to porn was discovered, with parents of school children across the country receiving an alarming warning
Parents have been left alarmed after a seemingly innocent series of children’s books was found to contain links to porn.
On the surface, these editions of The Spy Dog, Spy Pups and Spy Cat books by Andrew Cope appeared like perfectly normal books aimed at young readers, featuring fun cartoons of pets wearing sunglasses on the covers.
The bestselling series is targeted at seven-to nine-year-olds and follows the adventures of undercover pets carrying out top-secret missions. Spy Dog, the first book in the series, features “Lara, the MI5’s first spy dog” who “must go undercover as a normal dog”.
Although these volumes may seem to be ideal for bedtime stories, families have been horrified to learn that a web address printed in the back of some of the books is linked to explicit content.
It’s understood that this web address was once used to link out to Cope’s website; however, this domain is no longer under the author’s control. Another party has since taken over the domain, and it leads to inappropriate content, rather than information about the Derby-based writer.
A number of schools have now reached out to parents and guardians to make them aware of the situation, while books have also been pulled from library shelves.
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One school email seen by the Mirror makes parents at a school aware of the issues at hand, urging them: “If your child has any Spy Dog, Spy Cat, or Spy Pups at home, please check the back for website links, and make sure they do not try to visit the site.”
The email explains: “It is safe for children to continue reading the stories themselves – the concern is only with the outdated link.” It continues: “We recommend talking with your child about the importance of not following web addresses in books without checking with an adult first.”
For now, Puffin has paused sales and distribution of these particular books, and is working alongside schools, libraries and shops to get them taken down from shelves. According to this email, Puffin has stressed that “the website has no connection to the publisher or the author”.
Andrew Cope and Puffin Books have issued the following joint statement: “In some editions of the Spy Dog, Spy Cat and Spy Pups series, there is a reference to the author, Andrew Cope’s, former website for the series, which was owned and managed by him.
“We understand an unconnected third party has very recently taken control of the domain name and is using it to display a different website with inappropriate adult content. This website is not associated with Puffin or Andrew Cope. We are asking people not to visit the website and ensure that children do not visit it either.
“We are taking this extremely seriously and are acting on this issue as a matter of urgency through the appropriate channels to get this website removed.
“This is an in-depth and complex legal process and will take time. In addition, we have immediately paused on the sale and distribution of the books whilst we deal with this matter.
“We are currently working with retail and education and library partners to remove the books from shelves for the time being. We are asking anyone who has copies of these titles to temporarily remove these books from their shelves.”
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