Thousands of secondary school pupils are the victims of a new wave of bullying by camera phone, research by the children’s UK charity NCH revealed, reports The Guardian.

“Its poll of 11- to 19-year-olds found one in 10 have felt threatened or embarrassed by pictures taken using mobile phones .

They can be bullied even in their own homes when the perpetrators use their phones at any time of day or night to transmit the images - and threats to send them to other people.

The most extreme example of the dangers came to light in Dublin when a girl in school uniform allowed her boyfriend to take an intimate picture of her on his camera phone.

John Carr, new technology adviser to NCH, said the boy texted the image to two friends, who passed it on to others. “Within two hours police reckoned 10,000 phones received the picture. It was not intended as bullying, but the distress to the girl was immense.”