RTE WORKER SNARED IN PAEDOPHILE HONEYTRAP
Man in court charged with attempted child sex
AN RTÉ employee is due to appear in court in the UK today over charges of attempting to engage or incite sexual activity with a child.
Vigilante group Predator Exposure lured the man to the UK by setting up a honeytrap, using a fake Facebook profile of a ‘girl aged 13’. As part of the sting, the group – who were interviewed on RTÉ One’s Claire Byrne Live show last month – alerted police in Leeds to the man and videoed him being taken away by officers.
They said, in an online post, that the man – who is in his 50s – had flown over to Leeds to meet a ‘girl aged 13’. West
Yorkshire Police confirmed in a statement that the RTÉ worker has been charged with trying to engage or incite sexual activity with a girl under 16.
He was cuffed and taken away by police on Saturday night and remained in police custody overnight.
The man, who police in England have named but who the Irish Daily Mail cannot name for legal reasons, is set to appear at Leeds Magistrate Court today to be formally charged.
He was questioned in relation to the matter yesterday and police made a decision to charge him at approximately 5pm, RTÉ reported last night.
A spokesman for the national broadcaster last night told the Mail: ‘RTÉ has been made aware of this matter, which is being dealt with by the Leeds Police
Called himself ‘Jimi Cee from Dublin’
Force in the United Kingdom.’
In a 40-minute video, which Leeds-based Predator Exposure posted on social media on Saturday afternoon, a group of men can be seen approaching a man and confronting him about the purpose of his trip to the city.
They confronted him on a busy urban street, with traffic and pedestrians visible in the background, and he is wearing a black coat and a green baseball cap.
They ask him several times if his name is ‘Jimi’ and appear to take his phone. They can also be heard talking to him, stating that they were filming the meeting for ‘his safety’ and their own safety after identifying themselves as ‘Predator Exposure’.
Later in the video, the police can be seen arriving and placing the man in the back of an official vehicle in handcuffs.
The group posted a photo of a man on their Facebook page, with the statement: ‘Jimi Cee from Dublin arrived in Leeds after flying over to meet a “girl aged 13”. He arrived in West Yorkshire to sleep in the hotel with what he believed was a 13year-old girl. He asked her to stay with him, to then go shopping tomorrow, as well as going to the cinema, to then go to a football match. He also stated he will see where things go from there.’
The vigilante group is based in Leeds, and describe themselves as ‘paedophile hunters’ and a ‘child protection service’.
They also operate a YouTube channel, where they have yet to upload content, but state they are ‘trying to get predators off the street in West Yorkshire as well as the surrounding areas’.