A man who swapped a mobile phone logo of Sesame Street's Ernie for a pornographic image has been sacked.

The individual, who has not been named, worked for Mobee Ultimate Tones and Graphics, which sells ring tones and images.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Kevin Izzard, of Macclesfield in Cheshire, thought he had ordered an image depicting the children's show character as a birthday surprise for his 10 year-old daughter Jade.

But instead of Ernie the girl received an image of a man and a woman involved in an "explicit sexual act".

"It is disgraceful that something like this could happen," said Izzard. "I have tried to protect Jade from this kind of thing and I now find she has been exposed to it."

A spokeswoman for Mobee told the newspaper that an employee had changed the codes and had been sacked.

"We were shocked to discover that this had happened to the child and immediately suspended our service while we launched a full investigation," she said.

"We do not know why this happened and do not know if it was malicious or a practical joke. The designer has now been dismissed and further action may be taken with regard to prosecuting the person liable."