Hertfordshire County Council's Safeguarding team has issued a warning to parents and carers after discovering that popular children's books by author Andrew Cope now contain a link leading to highly inappropriate online content.

The affected titles include the 'Spy Dogs', 'Spy Pups' and 'Spy Cat' series. Each book encourages children to visit a website to "find out more about the characters" — however, that website, printed on the back page, has reportedly been compromised and now redirects to a pornographic site with no age verification.

The site has been reported to the relevant authorities, but families are being urged to remove any copies of the books from their homes until the issue is resolved.