Trials among pupils at a secondary school have shown it to be remarkably effective in helping them spot other internet user’s real ages.

The program, which has been developed by Lancaster University, can work out a person’s age and gender by using language analysis techniques, detecting words which are often used by people of a particular age group. Computer experts believe it could be a significant breakthrough in helping to catch paedophiles.

At first, the 350 young people who took part in the trial – from the Queen Elizabeth School in Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria – were unwittingly exposed to an experiment to find out if they could tell when they were chatting to adults posing as children. Only 18 per cent correctly guessed whether they were talking to an adult or a child.

Approximately four out of five children thought they were chatting to a teenager when it was, in fact, an adult. Youngsters of all age groups at the school – even 17-year-olds – failed to spot the impostors. Girls were more adept than boys at guessing ages correctly, with a 22 per cent success rate compared to the boys’ 16 per cent.