by Hayley Robinson

Parents are being urged not to panic after a Sittingbourne schoolboy’s Facebook postings sparked a paedophile alert.

Using at least one false name, his requests for large numbers of teenage girls to be his friend and "inappropriate" comments to them prompted fears that it was an older male trying to arrange meetings.

As a result letters were sent home by secondary schools in the town, including The Westlands and Fulston Manor, advising parents to be aware of the names he was believed to be using.

It also recommended deleting the profiles and blocking future contact.

A police investigation revealed the comments which included "will you marry me?" and "you’re gorgeous", had been sent by a 16-year-old boy.

He has since been warned about his actions.

Sittingbourne Neighbourhood Team’s Sgt Dan Worthington said: "I wanted to reassure everyone that this particular incident has been successfully resolved. We spoke to the 16-year-old boy involved, who admitted writing the inappropriate comments.

"Having realised the possible implications of his actions and apologising to those concerned, he has agreed not to write comments of this nature again or befriend those he doesn’t know on any social networking site.

"We will continue to monitor his behaviour to ensure this happens.

"We would urge pupils to take the normal steps to safeguard themselves while using social networking sites, by not accepting friend requests from strangers or if anyone is using the site inappropriately, to immediately report it to the site moderator and/or a responsible adult."

Westlands’ deputy head Neil Golding said: "We were concerned this was a classic grooming case and that’s why we sent the letters out.

"I hope it highlights the dangers to pupils and that they are on their guard in the future."

Fulston head teacher Alan Brookes said: "We emailed all our students initially and when some came forward and said we’ve been responding to the postings we sent a message out to parents.

"I’m pleased to hear it’s not as bad as it first sounded.

"I think we would rather publicise it and it be nothing than not publicise it and run the risk of being something sinister."