Almost 200 suspected paedophiles were arrested during a week long blitz by the authorities, amid warnings that young people are increasingly being targeted by blackmailers who force them to live stream abuse.

Specialists from the National Crime Agency (NCA) said a UK-wide operation had identified almost 250 potential victims, who were being groomed by alleged abusers.

Around a third of the cases involved youngsters being forced to live stream abuse, or send indecent images of themselves across the internet.

Police fear paedophiles are increasingly turning to live streaming as a new way of manipulating their victims.

In many cases a youngster will be contacted by a paedophile posing as a teenager, who then persuades them to send an indecent image of themselves.

They then quickly begin blackmailing the victim into sending increasingly extreme images, or in some cases persuade their targets to take part in the abuse of others.