The Chronicle

We’ll have to work with online vigilantes, admits police chief

- By Laura Hill Laura.Hill@trinitymir­ror.com @laurahilln­ews

Reporter A TOP officer has admitted that police may have to work with socalled paedophile hunters in the future, despite concerns about their operations.

Senior police officers have previously said that vigilante groups such as Tyneside based Dark Justice and Guardians of North could put legitimate child abuse investigat­ions at risk.

However figures obtained by the BBC show an increase in the number of cases where evidence gathered by paedophile hunters is being used.

More than 44% (114 of 259) cases of the crime of meeting a child following sexual grooming used this evidence in 2016, compared to 20 out of 176 cases in 2014 (11.3%).

Chief Constable Simon Bailey, the national lead for child protection at the National Police Chiefs’ Council, told the BBC: “(These) vigilante groups are putting the lives of children at risk.

“I’m not going to condone these groups and I would encourage them all to stop, but I recognise that I am not winning that conversati­on. “I think (working with vigilantes) is something we’re going to have to potentiall­y have to look at, yes, but it comes with some real complexity.” Tyneside-based duo Dark Justice claim on their website to have helped apprehend 104 sex crime suspects, leading to 50 conviction­s. The pair hit back at police after calls for paedophile hunters to stop earlier this year. The claim came as home secretary Amber R u d d announced £20m funding to extend an initiative where undercover detectives operated in internet chat rooms and forums used by suspected offenders – a tactic perfected by Dark Justice. One Dark Justice member said: “We have won a High Court ruling to say we can continue and we will continue Simon Bailey until they put us in prison or until we die.

“They say, ‘leave it to us,’ but we left it to you with Jimmy Savile, with Rotherham, with Rolf Harris.

“The profession­als can’t do it at the same level as us. £20m isn’t a lot spread throughout the country.”

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Dark Justice at their secret Newcastle office
Dark Justice at their secret Newcastle office
 ??  ?? Chief Constable Simon Bailey
Chief Constable Simon Bailey

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom