The West Midlands Police force, in association with the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), today launched a computer program to target online paedophiles.

Developed in-house by the West Midlands Police force, the software trawls sites that contain potentially illegal images of child abuse and tracks users who attempt to download such images.

Any images downloaded show a graphic police warning indicating that the perpetrator's actions could result in prosecution.

Inspector Darren Brookes from the NHTCU, which is managing the roll-out of the software, said: "We want to warn people who try to access sites containing indecent images that they may be committing a serious criminal offence.

"The mere downloading of such an indecent image carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment."

A number of other forces around the UK have expressed an interest in the software, according to the West Midlands force.

The NHTCU already has a string of internet paedophile arrests under its belt.