A TOTAL of 42 girls from Kent may be among the victims of a young man facing child pornography charges in Canada.

Kent Police say Mark Bedford, 21, of Kingston, Ontario, was arrested after three of their officers and local police executed a search warrant at his home.

It is claimed girls were contacted over the internet and persuaded to perform sex acts in front of their web-cameras.

Bedford has been charged with 12 child porn and extortion offences. Kent Police media spokeswoman Anne McCarthy said: "He is scheduled to appear in Ontario Court of Justice, Kingston, Ontario, on Monday (July 31).

"As a result of the search, a computer system was seized along with floppy diskettes, CDs and other items pertinent to the investigation.

"Kent officers are involved because it is believed that a number of victims are from the county."

Police in Canada told a press conference in Toronto that Bedford allegedly hacked into the email accounts of his young female victims to obtain address books listing potential victims.

If the girls, thought to be aged aged between nine and 15, refused his requests he would threaten to post their images on websites or show them to family members, officers alleged.

Police claimed his victims were threatened with bodily harm or death.

Insp Steven Evans, of Kent Police, said the force first became aware of the potential connection with the county in April this year after a parent contacted the force.

Bedford has been charged with two counts of luring a child using a computer, two counts of possessing child porn, three of making child porn, two of distributing it and three counts of extortion.