Perverts prey on kids PLENTY
CUNNING paedophiles are using popular dating website Plenty of Fish to target single mothers and prey upon their children, experts warn.
The site says 44 per cent of female members are single mums. It allows men, who do not have to be parents, to tick an option saying they ONLY want to date women with kids.
Campaigners and child protection experts have slammed Plenty of Fish, known as POF, saying it could leave children open to abuse as predatory perverts worm their way into their mothers’ affections. The alert comes after a third man was jailed for grooming a single mum on the network in a 12-month period.
Shadow women and equalities minister Sarah Champion said: “Just how is Plenty of Fish justified in adding such an option?
“One of my biggest concerns with the internet has been how paedophiles can use it as a short cut to get access to youngsters in this way.”
Grooming
Today, grooming victim Sarah Marshall leads calls for POF – owned by match.com – to change its settings. The mum-of-three dated paedophile Russell Fairburn for eight months, unaware he was jailed for grooming and then having sex with a 14-year-old he plied with booze and drugs. She moved the fiend into her home after he flattered her.
But one day she was sickened to learn he was on parole for his depraved crimes.
She is joined in her call for action by one of Fairburn’s victims – brave Megan Sullivan, 20, who was abused as a young teenager and has waived her right to anonymity to tell her own story on the page opposite.
Sarah, who has sons aged eight and 12 and a daughter who is two, said: “The single-parent dating option gives perverts the chance to prey on mums looking for love.
“Russell was sitting at his computer waiting for someone like me with kids to come along.
“I didn’t think for a second that sharing details about my children online would put me in this position. I was just looking to meet someone I had a connection with.
“The way the site operates is dangerous. I’m just lucky enough to have found out the truth in time but others might not be.”
Sarah joined POF, which has been used by around 12 million Brits since it launched in 2003, after her long-term relationship with her daughter’s father broke down in 2014.
She said she felt ill after discovering Fairburn’s secret by chance when she found a letter from the Open University. It was about a course he started behind bars after he was jailed for six years and eight months in 2011 for sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 15.
Sarah, of South Wales, said: “I’m traumatised by what happened. I left that man alone with my children and trusted him with their care.