Trial collapses after paedophile hunter’s ‘misleading’ account
ASELF-STYLED “paedophile hunter” lost potential evidence and turned up to a trial four hours late before giving “inaccurate” and “misleading” accounts to a jury.
David Poole, from the vigilante group H-Division, was the main prosecution witness in the trial of Adnan Khalid, who was accused of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.
Judge Thomas Crowther QC said: “This case underlines why criminal investigations should be conducted carefully, meticulously, and by those who are trained and qualified to do so.”
Mr Khalid, 27, from Cemetery Road, Porth, Rhondda, denied the charge and his trial opened at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday.
Prosecutor Marian Lewis told the jury Mr Poole set up a false profile on the dating website Plenty Of Fish as a fictional girl called Chloe.
The court heard Mr Khalid starting sending her messages through that site and Whats-App, despite her saying she was “a 14-year-old virgin”, and arranged to meet her in Cardiff.
He travelled to meet her on the Taff Embankment in Cardiff on April 8 but was instead met by Mr Poole and a group of other men. H-Division streamed the “sting” live on Facebook and called the police, who arrested Mr Khalid.
Giving evidence, Mr Poole accepted he had lost the initial conversations between the defendant and Chloe on Plenty Of Fish, stating the case was “a learning curve”. He told the jury the profile was shut down before they could take copies, adding: “We deal with so many cases at one time – he was one of our first stings.”
On the first day of the trial he told the jury he had handed photographs exchanged on Whats-App to the police, but subsequently accepted that was not correct. The judge noted his answer was “at best inaccurate and at worst a lie”.
Mr Poole returned to his home in Hereford after the first day of the trial and his partner posted on social media to say he had “got lost” and “ended up in the pub”.
Day two was due to start at 11am but Mr Poole did not turn up and prosecutors said he was “abusive” when solicitors made inquiries about his attendance. The court heard he missed a train in Hereford and does not have a mobile phone. After arriving four hours late, Mr Poole muttered “nonce” – a slang word for paedophile – under his breath as he sat in the witness box.
The court heard he used photographs of his girlfriend on the Plenty Of Fish profile and pretended she was Chloe.
He told the jury he had handed those over to the police, but the defence barrister suggested that was a lie, adding he had deliberately kept them back.
Judge Crowther said the witness’ “absence of candour” about the photographs was “deeply disturbing”.
He added: “It seems to me that this witness is trying very hard not to reveal what images he gave to this defendant.”
After a brief adjournment, Ms Lewis said: “I do not propose to put any further evidence before the jury and I do not invite the jury to return a verdict of guilty.”
Judge Crowther discharged the jury, entered a formal not guilty verdict, and instructed the defendant to leave the dock. He said: “There is no doubt that the conversation Mr Khalid had on Whats-App does him absolutely no credit whatsoever. It leads to grave suspicion – but suspicion is not the same as certainty and to find certainty the jury would have to be sure that the evidence of Mr Poole was truthful.”