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 XXX-rated video and an abusive text alert.

The couple, from Addison Road, Brockenhurst, found the explicit material shortly after buying the phone from Tesco in New Milton in a Vodafone pay-as-you-go package.

Tesco said they are “very concerned” about the incident but that the mobile arrived and left the store in a sealed box. Managers have asked for the phone to be returned so they can investigate with the manufacturer.

Vodafone has also launched its own inquiries, while nobody was available for comment from Sony Ericsson.

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. This was meant to be a brand new phone.”

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 has been referred to their “escalated customer care team” and that only new phones and sim cards in sealed boxes are supplied to approved retailers.

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

She added: “We are very concerned to hear about Mr Dayne’s purchase and the problem with unsolicited data on the pay-as-you-go phone.

“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.”