A 13-year-old girl e-mailed naked photos of herself to a man who threatened to disclose their online relationship to her father.

Helen* fell victim to internet abuse because her parents knew and trusted the man, in his early 20s, who was at the other end of the chat room.

"He was my colleague... I trusted him blindly and knew him to be a religious man," her father recalls with a tone of regret.

Helen and her parents sought help during this traumatic experience through an EU-funded support service that operated through the government's social agency Appoġġ.

However, a year ago, the service, through which 294 illegal websites were reported, expired and the support service is now being maintained by volunteers.

Catherine Fleri Soler, a service manager at Appoġġ, is calling on the government, or the private sector, to help rekindle the service by providing the finances to help operate it efficiently.

Almost three years after the incident came to their attention, Helen's parents are still torn by mixed feelings of guilt and anger as they were always aware that the internet may not be a safe place for children.

"We had taken all the necessary precautions and set up the computer in the kitchen to keep an eye on her," her father explains.

"She started experimenting with the internet and talking to various people... Then she started chatting to a colleague of mine. We trusted him so we didn't think much of it."

Initially, the colleague asked Helen for photos in exchange for songs and the teenager, flattered by the attention of a young man, sent them to him. But, as time passed, he was not satisfied with the photos she was sending. He wanted naked pictures of her and, when she refused, he threatened to disclose their flirtatious online relationship to her father.

The teenage gave in and he kept demanding more photos. He even sent her a photo of himself, from the neck down, naked.

Her parents noticed something was wrong. Helen became moody and started doing badly at school. Then, one day, she told a friend what had happened and the friend suggested she informs her parents.

"When she told us, we were shattered. I was hurt and angry at him (the colleague) and wanted to go to his house and punch him in the face," the father recalls with a trembling voice.

Instead, he dialled Appoġġ's helpline, 179, and was told to remain calm and handle the matter through legal channels. The family filed a police report but eventually withdrew it as they decided to forgive the man who, they learnt, had mental health problems.

They later learnt that the man, who the father still sees occasionally at work, had pending court cases in connection with possession of pornographic material.

"Thank God he never touched her," Helen's father says, as he urges parents not to trust children on the internet even with people they might trust.

At the time, when Helen's father contacted Appoġġ, there was an ongoing internet child abuse support service. The service started in July 2006 and expired in February last year. It included a hotline that fell within Appoġġ's already existing Supportline 179 and a link on the agency's website (www.appogg.gov.mt) where cases of internet child abuse could be reported. The funds covered all the costs and the salary of three full-timers.

Since then, the service has been maintained by a few volunteers at Appoġġ who try to cope with this and other pressing work.

"Here at Appoġġ we still monitor the e-mails but we do so on a voluntary basis and don't have the time or resources to give the service the attention it deserves," explains Ms Fleri Soler.

She headed an advisory board, set up through the EU project, that was made up of stakeholders in children's welfare and included representatives of the Children's Commissioner office, the police and parents' associations. Although the service expired, the board members still meet to try and keep it alive.

During the two years in which the EU-funded service was running, 294 illegal websites were reported. Of these, 261 reports were on indecent material involving children and nine dealt with other types of child abuse. A total of 89 reports were transmitted to the police.

The site still receives an average of one report a day.

Ms Fleri Soler is concerned as Appoġġ does not have the manpower to give undivided attention to these e-mails and to raise the necessary awareness about the service. She fears the incidence rate is higher than reported.

"We don't want to alarm people but it's too easy to be abused over the internet. It is affecting all children because nowadays they are all exposed to the internet," she says.

She is echoing the message of the Children's Commissioner who last month said this important service should not have to depend on EU funding.

*Name has been changed to protect the family's identity.