A POLICE probe is under way after a Helensburgh cocktail bar and restaurant was forced to apologise for "distressing and upsetting" images shared unlawfully on its social media page.

Riverhill Courtyard in West Princes Street said it was "deeply sorry" for the inappropriate posts - displaying a sexually explicit image of a young child - circulated on its Facebook page, which appeared briefly on Tuesday evening before being swiftly removed.

Shocked customers said they were "horrified" at the incident, which is now being investigated by specialist cybercrime officers, but praised the venue's staff for their prompt response.

The venue published a post on Tuesday evening (pictured below) advising customers of the incident.

And on Wednesday morning a follow-up post read: "We are deeply sorry for the distressing and upsetting images our customers were exposed to yesterday evening.

"The police have been contacted and we are working closely with cybercrime to resolve this issue.

"We have taken this very seriously and are working hard to ensure this never happens again.

"We are deeply sorry once again and we want to thank all of our customers for your support and understanding during this time."

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One social media user replied: "Actually can’t believe a sick individual is trying to target your business that way, the picture was awful and glad it was removed as quickly as it was."

Another commented: "Well done for removing it so quickly. Utterly deplorable."

Police in Helensburgh told the Advertiser they were contacted by staff after they had been made aware of their Facebook page displaying a sexually explicit image of a young child.

A local Police Scotland spokesperson said: "The image was removed immediately by the premises and police attended.

"[It is] not clear at this time how person(s) have managed to corrupt the account but all measures have been taken to update and change current security settings and passwords."

Police say a crime report has been raised for "distributing an obscene image in a manner that said image could be seen by the public".

Local officers said an enquiry is ongoing to try and identify the source of the image and person responsible for posting it through Police Scotland specialist departments.