A teenage schoolboy has been added to the police database after he sent an explicit image to a female pupil.

The 14-year-old boy, who has not been named, took the image on Snapchat and sent it to a girl of the same age.

The girl, who has also not been named, reportedly shared the photograph with others until a police officer attached to the school in northern England saw it and alerted school authorities.

It has now been recorded as a crime of making and distributing an indecent image.

Although the boy has not been arrested or charged, he has been told his name and details will remain filed for a minimum of 10 years, and will be accessible by employers should they perform an advanced Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) check.

"I shouldn't have done it,” the boy told the BBC. “It's just annoying really, something that I did when I was 14 could reflect badly in future."

His mother, also interviewed on BBC Radio 4, said “at best he was naive and at worst he was just a teenager”.

"It [sending the image] is referred to as sexting, and apparently it happens all the time. It is just how teenagers flirt these days," she added.