Man charged after video posted online

vigilantes: Police warn people not to take the law into their own hands and to let them do their job

Police have reminded people not to take the law into their own hands, after a man was charged in connection with a video posted by a vigilante group.

Officers from Police Scotland confirmed a 36-year-old man was detained in the city on Saturday night after reports of a number of alleged grooming offences were handed over.

The man has subsequently been charged and will appear at Dundee Sheriff Court later today.

Detective Inspector Nicky McGovern asked that the police be allowed to do their job and said all reasonable steps are being carried out by officers to protect the public.

Mr McGovern said: “We take these reports very seriously and are currently making inquiries into what was reported to us last night.

“I would urge the local community to allow us to make the necessary inquiries and not take matters into their own hands. I would like to reassure the public that all reasonable steps are being taken to protect them.”

A “child protection” vigilante group posted a video online after filming themselves attending the door of a man thought to be living in the Lochee area.

The group, who call themselves Creep Catchers, say they are a collection of concerned parents who have come together because they feel police forces across the country are “struggling” to hunt child sex offenders.

A similar “paedophile hunters” group, Dark Justice, snared a former Dundee bus driver in 2014 who was later convicted of attempting to meet a 14-year-old child for sexual activity in Newcastle.

Ronald Young, from Montrose, sent explicit messages involving bestiality to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl he befriended online before making the 200mile journey to Tyneside to meet her.

It transpired Young had been engaging in vile discussions with a member of the group, who turned up to meet the convicted sex offender at Newcastle central train station.

The two-man Dark Justice team held on to Young until he could be arrested and handed a dossier of his activities to police.

We take these reports very seriously. DI NICKY MCGOVERN

A still from the video captured by vigilante group Creep Catchers.