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A Warrington teenager was horrified to discover lewd images on her brand new mobile phone.

The 15-year-old’s mum has said she is appalled by the “absolutely disgusting” amateur images, which were taken more than a year before the phone was purchased.

Carlene Walsh, 41, is now locked in discussions with Virgin Media, from whom she bought the phone in the summer of 2015.

Virgin said the company has investigated the situation and said it is “extremely unlikely” the photos could have been on the device before it was bought.

Carlene told the ECHO that there had been no problems until her daughter dropped the phone on the stairs, cracking the screen.

When it was then plugged into her laptop, the graphic photographs appeared.

Carlene, 41, said: “My daughter screamed, so I legged it up the stairs thinking the house was on fire. Then she showed me the pictures.

“They are horrible, they are absolutely disgusting. And they are dated back to 2013, before she ever had the phone.

“She won’t even use that phone now. I have had to go out and buy her a new one because she won’t touch it.”

The photos that appeared on the laptop were taken by a Nokia phone, but her daughter’s mobile was a Sony Ericsson, Carlene said.

The dates on the images range from October 2013 to spring 2014, and the mysterious pictures show amateur, low-quality images ranging from country homes to a group of middle-aged men in a pub.

The sordid pictures show a middle-aged woman reclining on a couch in a state of semi-undress. She is wearing a pink dressing gown, and has her eyes closed.

The images have been seen by the ECHO, but we have decided not to publish them even in an edited version.

The images had not appeared on the mobile device itself, and only appeared when it was plugged into the computer.

Carlene said: “When I saw the pictures I could not believe it. They are of men drinking in the pub and a woman lying down with everything on show.

“The phone was working fine even though the screen was cracked. She was horrified, thinking that someone had been taking these pictures on her phone before she had it.”

She says Virgin Media “is passing her from pillar to post”, adding that nothing has been done about the discovery of the unpleasant pictures.

A Virgin spokesman told the ECHO they are willing to complete a full analysis of the device.

A spokesman said: “We always provide brand new handsets to new mobile customers. It is extremely unlikely the images in question could have been on this device prior to purchase, and our investigation into this case supports this.

“We are happy to complete a full analysis of the device to try and help determine how the images appeared on the phone.”