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(Image: ALIEXPRESS)

Daily Star Online can exclusively lift the lid on how lifelike dolls that are the spitting image of youngsters could revolutionise the way Britain tackles child abuse.

Sex expert Juliet Grayson, who is chair of sex offenders’ UK helpline StopSo, explained the toys could be used as a “bridge” for people to move back to “normal functioning”.

And Brits could be “prescribed” the doll to take home to have sex with, the top therapist proposed.

She told Daily Star Online: “I imagine the person being allowed the doll at home.

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“But only being allowed to have the doll while the therapy is ongoing and whilst they are turning up for their therapy sessions.

“They must be in regular ongoing therapy of a minimum of once a week while being prescribed the use of a doll.”

Unlike the use of child pornography or cartoons depicting tots, the child dolls are completely legal in the UK.

Some of the disturbing “sex toys” measure just 100cm – which is the same height as an average three or four-year-old.

Ms Grayson said: “They could be a 'bridge’ for some to move back to normal functioning.

“Start with a child doll, then move to a teenage doll, then to an adult doll, then a person.

“For others, they will be a permanent treatment.

“Something to give satisfaction to sexual urges so they never turn to a human child to satisfy them nor to the images of a human child."

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For some people, it's "hard wired" in their brains but for others, research has shown they can become "ex paedophiles".

The therapist said: “If we can find a way that it's not encouraged someone new to start but in the same way methadone to a heroin addict, I think it would be a step forward."

The dolls can be modified to have any eye colour, wig, skin tone and even facial features.

Ms Grayson said: “I don’t know whether the best thing would be to give them a doll that wasn’t quite as attractive as they really wanted.

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“Or a doll that fitted their desires completely. There's not enough research into this area."

But for paedophiles it's not just about sex.

They are obsessed with their “romantic” fantasy life with their “little companions”, Dr Sarah Goode revealed.

The former Child Health lecturer at Warwick University Medical School, who has spent more than 10 years researching child sex disorders, told Daily Star Online: “They can have realistic sex with the child sex doll.

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“But it is their fantasy life that is a huge part of their everyday lives.

“What you would probably find is paedophiles will dress the dolls up in clothes, sit down next to them and chat to them.

“And hold their hand and just pretend it’s a little girl companion.

“It’s about companionship, not purely sex.

“Some of it is very ‘romantic’.”

But the top paedophile expert warned a child sex doll could fuel this obsession.

The author of Understanding and Addressing Adult Sexual Attraction to Children, explained: “Paedophiles should not be spending all day with their pretend make-believe little girlfriend.

“They need to move away from that obsession.”

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Thousands of people who suffer with child sex disorders are receiving drug trials abroad.

But Dr Goode believes the dolls could work in the UK.

She said: "The key question we have to ask is, why does that man want that doll? Is it because he has reached the end of his tether?

"What we need to do is give these people a safe release in a context where there is a supportive group around them.”

Dr Goode says not all people attracted to children "are monsters".

She revealed: "They can make choices and they are not monsters. They can get help and we can help them. That is the message we must get across.

“Paedos from the general public can come forward. And in fact it could be a way to bring them into therapy."

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She added: "We need to be getting in there early, in their teens.

"It's the beginnings of thinking about a new policy approach."

Contact Specialist Treatment Organisation for the Prevention of Sexual Offending (StopSo) for help on 07473 299883.

As many as 36% of StopSO clients have not come to the attention of the police or social services.