UK to act on Internet sex abuse

Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells were wearing identical Manchester United shirts when they went missing

LONDON, England -- The UK government is facing pressure to speed up introducing legislation that would punish paedophiles using the Internet for luring youngsters through so-called "grooming."

The move comes as police in Cambridgeshire, eastern England, continue their search for two 10-year-old girls who went missing last Sunday.

Police revealed that they were chasing "significant leads" that point to the possibility that the schoolgirls, Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells, may have been using the Internet shortly before their disappearance.

The government has been looking into tightening laws on use of the Internet and had set up an Internet Task Force last March.

It is expected to introduce a Sexual Offences Bill in the Queen's Speech when parliament returns in the Autumn from its summer recess.

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A Home Office spokesman told Reuters on Saturday: "They are looking at the possibilities of making grooming a criminal offence."

"Grooming" has alarmed ministers and police because of the ease by which peaedophiles, often posing as teenagers, can seemingly lure youngsters to meetings.

They befriend children through Internet chatrooms.

Cambridgeshire Police said on Saturday they had arrested two men in connection with the disappearance of Chapman and Wells.

The men were being held after refusing to co-operate with officers, police said.

But Acting Detective Superintendent, David Beck, leading the hunt for the girls, said he did not believe the arrests were "significant developments."