SICKENING

Sex dolls that look like kids are being sold on Facebook

- BY NICK SOMMERLAD Investigations Editor and MERIEM MAHDHI

SICKENING sex dolls that look like kids are being advertised for sale on Facebook.

A group of websites touting small models with overtly childlike features have published over 1,300 ads on the social media platform.

They are alarmingly realistic in appearance and many ads use photos in sexualised poses, some holding balloons or teddy bears.

The National Crime Agency warns the creepy imports "pose a significant risk to children".

And a former cop told us: "Anyone who buys one of these dolls should be a person of interest to the police." Ads for them breach the rules of Facebook's parent company Meta and most had been taken down. But Meta continued to receive money for every new one published.

They were discovered in a joint probe by the Sunday Mirror and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

A spokesman for Meta said: "Ads that violate our policies have no place on our platform.

"We've removed the content brought to our attention."

FOLLOWERS

It is not a crime in the UK to own a childlike sex doll but Crown Prosecution Service guidance suggests that someone could be breaking the law by importing or selling them, or by sending one in the post.