SHOCKED surfers seeking online information about a sedate East Lancashire village are being channelled into a hardcore internet sex site.

Browsers typing "Pleasington" -- home of the well-known priory and golf club -- and a suffix into their search engines are instantly connected to an American site signposted: "Hi. I'm Kara," and offering pornographic pictures and text.

One councillor warned today: "This is one of the downsides of the Internet. It's one of the risks."

And Pleasington Priory priest the Very Rev Canon Kevin Kenny said: "I am shocked and alarmed."

The hardcore area claims to be the hottest site on th e net and carries a US Pacific time zone. It makes no reference to East Lancashire.

The site is owned by Domain Stuff.com, with an address in Del Mar, California. No-one was responding to their telephone number today.

Councillor Alan Cottam, Blackburn with Darwen Council Conservative member for Livesey with Pleasington, said: "It's not funny - it's detrimental to good taste. Any unsuspecting person can fall for this.

"I would rather not see any publicity on it. I would rather it were just left to the internet policing system to deal with.

"This is the downside of the internet. It's one of the risks."

Canon Kenny said: "It's grossly alarming.

"I'm totally unintelligent when it comes to modern technology . . . a complete freshman . . . but I am shocked and alarmed."

A spokesman for the Blackburn Diocese, which includes the parish of Pleasington in its fold, said: "Pleasington appears to have had its name taken in vain for this website and you can undertsand the shock and anger that residents must feel.

"It is sad when great gifts, like human love, are misused for cynical commercialism."

And he added that it would perhaps remind everyone of their responsibilties in both human and commercial relationships.

Craig McGinty, Newquest Digital Media Web Editor who runs our thisislancashire.co.uk internet site, explained: "Unfortunately there is very little Pleasington councillors can do because on the internet it's a question of first come first served.

"Many American-based companies registered names and products on the internet years ago, so UK-based sites using the same names would not be allowed and would have to settle for .co.uk.

"If councillors go to www.pleasington.co.uk this takes you to a legitimate site that covers villages across the UK and wouldn't cause offence to anyone."