Puffin, the children's publisher, is urgently contacting UK schools and local authorities after discovering that a website address in the popular Spy Dog series has been hijacked by a pornographic site. The publisher has urged school libraries to remove the books, which are aimed at children aged seven to 12.
The affected titles include the Spy Dog, Spy Pups, and Spy Cat series by Andrew Cope. The website address, printed in the books, now redirects to unrestricted adult content. Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Random House, said it had “immediately paused” sales of the affected books and was working to have libraries remove them from shelves.
A number of schools in England reported receiving emails alerting them to the danger, warning that the new content included “inappropriate material featuring children’s characters”. One school in West Sussex wrote to parents: “These books contain a link to a website … This link has now been compromised and takes users to a pornographic website with no age verification.”
A statement issued on behalf of Cope and Puffin said: “In some editions … there is a reference to the author Andrew Cope’s former website … 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.” The publisher said it was taking the issue “extremely seriously” and pursuing legal action to have the website removed.
The Spy Dog series, first published in 2005, follows Lara, a dog trained by the secret service. Hampshire’s school library service sent out a warning to families about the “unsafe material” on the website, advising them to take appropriate action if they have any of the books at home.
