A girl under 16 was left in tears after her avatar - her digital character - was gang raped by online strangers in a virtual reality video game.

Coppers say she suffered the same mental and emotional trauma as someone who has been raped in the real world as the ‘VR’ experience was designed to be realistic.

It is thought to be the first time in the UK that cops have probed a virtual sex crime.

In this case, the victim was in an online ‘room’ with a large number of fellow users when the virtual assault by several adult men took place.

Police bosses are now calling for new laws to tackle a wave of sexual offending in such a sphere, saying cops’ tactics must change to stop pervs using new technology to exploit kids.

But the landmark case has sparked questions about whether cops should be chasing virtual offences - given cops and prosecutors are currently struggling with a considerable backlog of physical rape cases - and if such an attack should be prosecuted under current laws.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Child Protection and Abuse Investigation Lead, Ian Critchley, warned, ‘the Metaverse creates a gateway for predators to commit horrific crimes against kids’.

Details of the extraordinary virtual reality case have been kept secret to protect the child involved amid fears that, for several reasons, a prosecution will not be possible.

But one senior cop familiar with the case said: ‘This child suffered mental trauma similar to that of someone who has been physically raped. There is a longer-term emotional and psychological impact on the victim than physical injuries.

‘It poses many challenges for law enforcement given current laws are not set up for this.’ There have been many reported sex attacks on Horizon Worlds, a free VR online game run by Facebook’s owner, Meta.

The boss of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, Donna Jones, told the Mail that women and kids deserve more protection: ‘We need to update our laws because they have not kept up with the risks of harm that are developing from artificial intelligence and offending on platforms like the Metaverse.

A top cop told the Mail that sexual offending in the Metaverse is now ‘rife’. But so far, there have been no UK prosecutions for such offending, despite cops getting reports of other potential offences, including the theft of one avatar’s valuable sword.