Man banned from his home after paedophile video slur

A MAN who is obsessed with the idea paedophiles are living in his community has been banned from going home after he used hidden video cameras to make a film about his neighbour.

Paul Andrew Page pieced together almost an hour of footage from his clandestine cameras, added a voiceover insinuating the man was a sex offender, and then posted it online.

Page had previously pulled a Rambo-style hunting knife on his neighbour in a row over paedophile posters he was putting up in the area.

Swansea Crown Court heard how in April this year a neighbour of Page’s living in Pontarddulais was made aware of a video about him on Youtube.

Tom Scapens, prosecuting, said the film had been made by 40-year-old Page using footage from cameras he had hidden at various locations around the outside of the victim’s flat.

The film, which had the word ‘paedo’ in the title, showed various shots of his victim going about his daily business around his property but Page had added a voiceover in which he talked about shirtless young boys visiting the flat and made other comments insinuating the man was a sex offender. Mr Scapens said the fact the victim was told about the video by another neighbour suggested the film was being seen locally.

Page, of Trinity Close, Pontarddulais, pleaded guilty to breaching a restraining order when he appeared for sentencing yesterday.

The prosecutor said the restraining order was put in place in 2018 following his conviction for affray. This offence had seen him pull a so-called Rambo knife on his victim and threaten to stab him after the man had complained about the paedophile posters he was putting up on lampposts around the area.

The court heard Page also has previous convictions for sending threatening messages, assaulting a PC, and resisting arrest following an incident in 2007 when he had written to the Department of Work and Pensions threatening to blow up their office because they had withdrawn his benefits.

Matthew Buckland, for Page, said the defendant had been in prison on remand for three months and invited the court to follow the recommendations of a probation report.

Judge Paul Thomas QC said Page was guilty of a “blatant breach” of the restraining order and he said he hoped the period of time the defendant had spent in custody had shown him where such behaviour could lead.

Giving the defendant credit for his guilty plea, he sentenced him to 14 months in prison suspended for 18 months and ordered him to complete a rehabilitation course.

The judge made it a condition of his sentence that Page is not allowed to live at his Pontarddulais home and the court heard he is planning to stay with his mother.