A series of children’s books is hurriedly being pulled from the shelves and withdrawn from primary schools after a website link promoted inside was taken over by pornographic material.
The printed editions of the Spy Dogs books by Andrew Cope – popular with seven to 11-year-olds – feature an URL which now directs the readers to explicit images and videos.
Waterstones removed the books from it shelves yesterday morning while schools up and down the country were alerted by their local authorities.
Puffin, the publisher of the series, said it is working to pull the affected editions from all schools, libraries and bookshops.
A letter to horrified parents in one London borough yesterday said: ‘As a school we have been made aware by the Local Authority that a series of children’s books appear to contain a website link on the back cover which, when accessed, directs you to a website containing pornographic content.
‘The series is called “Spy Dogs/Pups” & “Spy Cats”, written by Andrew Cope.
‘The issue has been raised by many schools and the publishers, Penguin, have been notified about the problem.
‘If your child has any school copies of the book, please could they be returned to the school, until we can confirm that the issue has been sorted.’
The books, popular with seven to 11-year-olds, were hurriedly pulled from the shelves and withdrawn from primary schools
The printed editions of the Spy Dogs books by Andrew Cope feature an URL which now directs the readers to explicit images and videos
The website, which was set up in 2016 and promoted by the author on his Twitter page as well inside the books, was previously used to host more information about the main characters in the series.
A page featured in the back of several of the Spy Dog series books reads: ‘Discover even more about Lara, Spud, and Star. Meet them at their OFFICIAL WEBSITE’.
Puffin confirmed that the URL had once belonged to Mr Cope but the domain printed in the book had since been acquired by a third party.
The publisher said it is now working to remove the website but admitted it would be ‘an in-depth and complex legal process’ which could take some time.
Puffin added that they ‘have immediately paused on the sale and distribution of the books whilst we deal with this matter’.
Yesterday a gaping hole was left on the shelves of a West London branch of Waterstones where the series had once been displayed with staff confirming they were no longer allowed to sell it.
A spokesperson for Waterstones told the Daily Mail: ‘Following advice from the publisher we have notified our bookshops to remove the titles from sale until further notice.’
The publisher, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, added that the content featured on the website has no association with either Puffin or Mr Cope.
A joint statement from Puffin and Mr Cope said: ‘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.’
The statement added: ‘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.’
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