There are fears over the linking of children's names to images

Alan Vian, head of Millbrook Junior School in Kettering, says pupils had been harassed when their picture and names had been included in an article.

The local paper article had shown pupils in a school play and the head teacher says that as a result children had received "abusive phone calls".

But local papers say there is no evidence to back such fears.

'Distress'

"A group of children's photograph appeared in the paper, they were dressed as angels in the school play, and as a result of that they received abusive phone calls in the evening, which obviously caused them a huge amount of distress," Mr Vian told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

There is no evidence at all that paedophiles are using newspaper reports to identify and target children. Northamptonshire Police say they have no knowledge at all about this matter David Penman, Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph

"As a result of that, we took the decision never to release the full name again."

But in response, the managing editor of the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph, David Penman, says that there is "no evidence at all that paedophiles are using newspaper reports to identify and target children. Northamptonshire Police say they have no knowledge at all about this matter".

Mr Penman said that parents liked to see pictures of the achievements of their children published in local papers.

But he recognised that there had been concerns from local schools, following "anecdotal reports of children being targeted and receiving abusive telephone calls".

School worries

These schools have refused to give permission to publish names with pictures of pupils, even when parents involved given their consent, said Mr Penman.

But he argued that such restrictions were not representative of the views of all schools. And saying that the paper "would do nothing to put children at risk" he reiterated that he was not aware of any "incident which has occurred as a result of a newspaper article and photograph".

"We feel that it is more damaging for children to believe that their names and faces put them at risk from attack when the reality is that we still live in a relatively safe society."