NEARLY 500 counselling sessions were held to help children suffering abuse from online “trolls” in Wales in just one year, according to new figures from the NSPCC.

Online bullying is one of the “biggest child protection challenges of this generation”, according to the head of NSPCC Wales.

Research show that the number of children and young people across the UK who suffer abuse from online trolls has increased by 88 percent in five years.

The latest report from the NSPCC shows the charity’s helpline service Childline counselled 4,541 children about online bullying in 2015/16 compared to 2,410 in 2011/12.

In a quarter of counselling sessions children and young people were also counselled for mental health and wellbeing issues, including low self-esteem, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and depression.

Des Mannion, Head of NSPCC Wales, said: “Online bullying is one of the biggest child protection challenges of this generation. It is a problem intensified by the ever-increasing presence of the internet.

“Years ago a child could escape their bullies when they left the playground and get some respite in the safety of their home. Now the 24/7 nature of the internet means that a child can be targeted.”

Children as young as seven told Childline counsellors they were being tormented by malicious messages, from which they felt there was no escape.

The comments posted on social media ranged from bullying and abusive words about how a young person looked to death threats and in the most extreme cases directly telling them to kill themselves.

One girl reported: “Every day I wake up scared to go to school, scared about the comments people will make and scared about walking home. Then I get in and log onto my social networking site and there are horrible messages everywhere. It’s like there is no escaping the bullies. I’m struggling to cope with how upset I feel so sometimes I cut myself just to have a release but it’s not enough. I can’t go on like this.”

The charity is also working with the Royal Foundation Cyber-bullying Taskforce to develop new tools to protect children and young people, including message boards on which there were more than 11,000 posts last year.