Four ‘paedophile hunters’ arrested over incident involving BBC reporter

FOUR so-called paedophile hunters have been arrested over an incident during which they surrounded a BBC reporter in Belfast city centre.

Three men, aged 28, 32 and 34, were arrested yesterday on suspicion of a number of offences, including disorderly behaviour and attempted intimidation.

The 32-year-old man and the 34-year-old were also arrested on suspicion of obstruction of a road on the same date.

A PSNI spokesman said all three had also been arrested on suspicion of a number of offences including common assault, false imprisonment and disorderly behaviour on a number of dates between September 2017 and February 2018.

Last night the trio remained in police custody.

Police said later that a 44-yearold man had been arrested on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and false imprisonment.

The arrests came two weeks after an incident on Botanic Avenue on February 6 when BBC reporter Kevin Magee was confronted in a coffee shop by a group of men shouting at him, before following him along the street.

Some of the men then sat on the road in front of Mr Magee’s car in an apparent attempt to prevent him from leaving.

Mr Magee had been making a news report about the activities of so-called paedophile hunters at the time at the attack, and had interviewed people involved with groups earlier that day. His report has since been aired by the BBC.

A spokesperson for the group told BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show earlier this month that they believed Mr Magee was in breach of the BBC code of conduct.

There is no suggestion that Mr Magee had done anything wrong.

Thousands watched the events unfold live online in a video which has since been removed from the Predators NI Facebook page.

Interview: Kevin Magee