Pictures of staff at a city primary school are being stolen and used to create fake profiles on pornography and adult escorting websites.

A police investigation is ongoing to uncover who is behind the malicious campaign against employees at St John's in Canterbury.

Among at least three targeted is the school's head of welfare and inclusion, Kirsty Pellant, who has been left traumatised by the online posts.

They have been discovered on adult websites headed with her name and featuring videos of a woman who looks similar to her, as well as photoshopped images.

Some have even been shared on Facebook by parents, forcing the school to warn those circulating them they could face prosecution for making malicious communications.

Miss Pellant, 37, who has been working at the school since 2012, says the damaging posts first started appearing in 2016.

"It's been a horrible year," she said. "The impact on me personally can't be overstated.

"I could have crumbled because it has been so shocking and upsetting, but I have to keep fighting.

"I have made it my mission to take down as many of the posts as possible, but they keep appearing and it's a long and arduous task."

Miss Pellant's distress has been intensified in recent weeks by fresh posts appearing online.

Some were even shared on Canterbury Residents Group - a Facebook forum with more than 23,000 members.

"It's scary, and I have no idea what the motivation behind it is but it has hit me hard and I shouldn't have to go through this," she said.

"Of course I worry that some people might think it's true, but all the parents I have spoken to have been very supportive."

Miss Pellant says her role in safeguarding children made the attack on her even more difficult to deal with because of the potential damage to her character.

"It's hard to come into school while someone is trying to tarnish your reputation but I haven't lost any focus on the job, which remains my priority," she said.

"We have to be challenging to parents sometimes but that is only because we want the best for the children."

Miss Pellant also has the full support of the school, governors and Kent County Council.

Head teacher Jo Warnock said: "This is online bullying and will not be tolerated.

"We are absolutely desperate to find out who is responsible and to see them prosecuted. "It's also important for children to know that it's not right and we do something about it.

"It is extremely distressing for the staff involved and their families.

"We are working hard to continue as normal as we do not want to see such a malicious person affect the education of the children."

School governors have written to all parents telling them about the "malicious and unfounded" attacks, urging them not to share images or links.

The letter from chair of governors adds: "The school and local authority are taking these incidents extremely seriously and are seeking legal advice in relation to the propagation of any images or information related to them.

"If you have received such links, images or website addresses, we request you to inform the head teacher with any details of how the message was sent and from whom."

Police say the investigation into harassment of staff at the school is ongoing.

Miss Pellant said: "Even if someone is caught and it stops, this stuff will still be available on Google searches and I will have to delete everything about me.

"I'd have to make myself virtually disappear to get rid of it."