MOTHER-of-three Tessa Colson is joining the campaign for greater child protection on the Internet.

Mrs Colson from Pickwick Road, Corsham, said she is increasingly concerned about the level of highly offensive material that is easily accessible by her children, particularly hardcore pornographic material.

"I use the Internet and I don't like what I see. I am sure most parents worry about it," said Mrs Colson.

A spokesman for NSPCC said: "As schools break for the summer holidays we will see young people spending more time on the Internet. This is fun, and can be a powerful tool for learning and exchanging information. Sadly it is also open to exploitation by dangerous people."

The NSPCC is now running a campaign to persuade the Government to ensure all computers sold into the UK domestic market have child protection software pre-installed.

"I was delighted to see that Carol Vorderman is backing the NSPCC's campaign. I feel very strongly about this. Unless you keep a strict eye on children you don't know what they could be exposed to," said Mrs Colson.

With her three children using the Internet regularly Mrs Colson wants the assurance that they are safe from harm when surfing the net.

Her 13-year-old daughter Jessica surfs the Internet on a daily basis for schoolwork and socialising, along with her brother Thomas, ten, and sister Georgia, 11.

"They use it for school projects. One of them recently did a project on the Egyptians and looked up all sorts of things. There is masses and masses of information. It is a hugely powerful tool for them and their learning."

But she said the benefits are marred by parents having to worry about what their children could accidentally be looking at.

"You only have to put in the name of the person you are following up and some of the sites that come up are really hardcore porn. "

Mrs Colson said that like many people she has problems with her e-mail and is sent lots of unsolicited mail, which her children can access if they are using e-mail on the computer.

"I think it would be hugely advantageous to have something installed on computers before they were sold. You can download or buy software but any wily children can probably work out how to bypass them."

Mrs Colson said her children are aware of material they should not look at and she trusted them but many children were not as conscientious.

Mrs Colson is urging other parents to support the NSPCC campaign by logging onto www.nspcc.org.uk/campaigning and by sending an e-postcard to Government.