PAEDO HUNT ‘STING’ CASE KICKED OUT
Vigilante proof OK
A CONVICTED child sex abuser has lost his Supreme Court appeal over the use of evidence collected by “paedophile hunter” groups.
The UK’S highest court ruled that proof gathered in sting operations used to lock up child abusers does not violate a person’s human rights.
Mark Sutherland, 37, was found guilty in August 2018 of attempting to communicate indecently with a 13-yearold boy. After messaging the “decoy” posing as the teen on gay dating app Grindr,
Sutherland sent sexual messages and images. He arranged to meet “him” at a bus station in Glasgow.
But the perv was nicked after paedophile hunters
Groom Resisters Scotland confronted him, filmed the meeting then handed the evidence to police.
Sutherland argued that his right to a private life, enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, had been breached.
He appealed his conviction, saying the covert investigation and the use of the proof breached his human rights.
But the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal.
Lord Sales said: “The interests of children have priority over any interest a paedophile could have in being allowed to engage in criminal conduct.
“Since the state has to deter offences against children in order to protect their rights, the public prosecutor was entitled to introduce the evidence from the decoy at the trial.”