A GANG of teenage boys raped an 11-year-old girl and filmed the attack in the latest in a number of serious incidents involving video capture on mobile phone.

The video of the assault was circulated to pupils at the victim’s school and had been seen by hundreds of children by the next day, according to reports.

Scotland Yard confirmed last night that detectives were investigating an allegation of rape against a girl, 11, and that three 14-year-old boys had been arrested in connection with the incident. The girl, a pupil at a North London school, was attacked at an address in Stoke Newington after classes on April 25. She told detectives that the boys, who are all classmates, demanded group sex with her. When she refused, she was raped by two of them while another secretly filmed the assault on a mobile phone.

The footage was sent to other pupils within minutes. When teachers found out the following day, they reported the incident to the police. The girl was interviewed by detectives from Operation Sapphire, Scotland Yard’s sexual offences task force. Three boys, all aged 14, were arrested in connection with the incident on April 29 and have since been bailed to return to North London police stations on July 12, Scotland Yard said. “Officers are investigating all circumstances surrounding the incident,” a spokeswoman said.

Antibullying organisations have expressed their concern at the growing phenomenon of “happy slapping” which is believed to have originated in South London late last year, but is now a craze.

Many schools in London have banned mobile phones because of fears of bullying and robbery. A number of violent attacks on schoolchildren have been filmed on mobile phones equipped with video cameras.

In one of the most serious incidents a teenager was shot in the leg by two teenagers who photographed her injuries with a mobile phone. Kerry Deville, 17, had surgery to remove the pellet at Leeds General Infirmary after the incident in Wortley.

Becky Smith, 16, was punched and knocked unconscious by a gang of teenagers in Blackley, Manchester, in another happy slapping incident. Images of the assault were circulated around the girl’s school, Plant Hill High School in Blackley, and her brother, Craig, 13, was shown the video by another pupil.

John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, also told of how his minders had to step in when he was confronted by a gang of hooded youths in a motorway service station, one of whom had a video camera.

This month, NCH, the children’s charity, gave warning that bullies were using mobile phones to intimidate their victims. Nearly four million young people own a mobile phone, according to the charity.

In May two teenagers were jailed by Bolton Crown Court for setting fire to a stranger sleeping in a bus shelter. The pair laughed and joked as they filmed the attack. Their victim almost died from his burns.

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