Police are today searching for a man who posted videos on the internet showing himself goading two schoolboys into violently attacking each other.

The film clips uploaded to the video-sharing website YouTube show two young boys head butting, punching and stamping on each other while an adult behind the camera urges them on to ever bloodier acts.

The films called Lethal Fight (Crawley) and Lethal Fight 2, which were apparently recorded in a West Sussex bedroom, were posted five days ago.

The boys, who appear to be around 10-years-old, are shown grappling after one was reduced to tears by a punch to the face.

A disembodied voice can be heard laughing and then imploring further violence: “Oh come on, you’re not hugging each other – you little bitches.”

One of the children replies: “What do you want us to do then?”

He is told “Anything – best to, you know, smack the s*** out of each other.”

West Sussex County Council's social services officers have launched an investigation into the footage and children's charities condemned the cameraman.

An NSPCC spokeswoman said: "Fostering aggression between children is totally unacceptable."

The Argus, Brighton’s local newspaper, discovered the footage and today offered a £1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the video-maker.

The footage emerged on the day that Ed Balls, the Children’s Minister, announces a new initiative to curb cyberbullying.

The Government’s cyberbullying task force includes representatives of the NSPCC as well as YouTube, MySpace and Bebo. The group will publish a report into the phenomenon in July and today Mr Balls asked for the bullying of teachers to added to the remit. However, the limited grip on children’s internet use by schools and colleges has been highlighted by this latest video which shows an adult instigating the violence.

The boys in the videos are seen in a small darkened bedroom wearing tracksuit trousers and t-shirts and no shoes. One appears to be slightly older than the other.

When the bigger boy attacks the other child, the adult is heard to giggle and shriek: “Oh a headbutt! Sick!”.

YouTube has taken the two videos down and said it will help police with their investigations.

A spokesman said: "YouTube is a community site used by millions of people in very positive ways. Sadly as with any form of communication, there is a tiny minority of people who try to break the rules.

"When people see content that they think is inappropriate they can flag it up and our staff then review it. If the content breaks our terms then we remove it and if a user repeatedly breaks the rules we disable their account."

Last month the Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport heard from children’s charities who demanded that video-sharing websites be prosecuted for showing child violence such as happy-slapping.

Detective Sergeant Richard Harris, of Sussex Police, said they were investigating the video posted on YouTube this week: “This appears to be a case of child cruelty and criminal behaviour by any adult involved in the making of this appalling video.

“Sussex Police child protection team and West Sussex Young Persons’ Services team will be working together to safeguard the welfare of the children and prosecute any adults involved in criminal behaviour.”

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