AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after “depraved” pornography was found on a mobile telephone bought for a seven-year-old child.

Kevin and Kerrie Daynes purchased the £34.99 Sony Ericsson handset from Tesco so their daughter Chelsea could ring her grandmother.

But when they charged up the device for the first time, they were shocked to discover it contained a pornographic video and an abusive text message alert.

The couple, from Addison Road, Brockenhurst, bought the phone from Tesco in New Milton in a Vodafone pay-as-you-go package.

Full-time mum Kerrie, 30, said: “I know some people do download filth like this on their phones.

“But it is horrible that this has been allowed to happen.

“When I saw the clip, it made me sick to the stomach that Chelsea could have seen it. It was depraved.

“Chelsea doesn’t know – we have just told her that there were nasty pictures on the phone and that we will get her a new one."

Kevin, 31, added: “The video is pretty sick and degrading. I was absolutely fuming when I found it.”

A spokesman from Tesco told the Daily Echo: “We were of course very concerned to hear about this.

“We can confirm that the phone arrived and left our store in a sealed box. We have asked the customer to return it so we can investigate fully with the manufacturer.”

Vodafone said the matter had been referred to its “escalated customer care team” and that only brand new phones and Sim cards in security sealed boxes are supplied to approved retailers.

A spokesman added that further checks would be carried out using the phone’s identification number.

She added: “All our phones also have an adult content bar that needs to be lifted to allow this type of access and can’t be done without us seeing proof of age and this would happen after the point of purchase.”

No one was available for comment from Sony Ericsson.