THE danger of 'sexting’ needs to be taken seriously and a tougher approach to female genital mutilation (FGM) is needed, says Rani Bilkhu, founder of Jeena International.

The mother-of-five from Slough says sexting is not just about young teenagers sending inappropriate photos to one another as it has the potential to become something very serious including sexual attacks and blackmail.

Mrs Bilkhu, pictured, said: “It can potentially lead to sexual assault, it can be used as a tool to blackmail young people in to doing something they don’t want to do.”

If found out, girls involved in this who are from backgrounds with strict beliefs about no sex before marriage, it is feared they could face forced marriage or even death.

On the subject of FGM, there are an estimated 20,000 girls aged under 15 at risk in the UK each year, states the NHS.

According to Mrs Bilkhu, many communities are coming to the UK via Europe as Britain’s approach to FGM is much softer.

She said: “Europe’s approach is a lot more stringent, there’s a lot more safe guarding – they physically go and see the children. We wouldn’t do that here.”

FGM, also referred to as female circumcision, involves removing female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

Jeena International was set up by Mrs Bilkhu in 2010 to help empower women, tackle gender inequalities and initiate change.

She established the organisation after suffering mental and physical abuse from her parents-in-law as well as her own experiences of sexism from an early age.