Innocent dad missed Xmas after paedophile hunters got wrong man
AN INNOCENT dad could not spend Christmas with his son after being wrongly confronted by “paedophile hunters” and arrested.
The man was not cleared from blame until police arrested the real paedophile, Stephen Price, three months later and he confirmed he had been using the innocent man’s profile picture.
Speaking at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge Nicola Jones said: “The paedophile hunters – if I can use that awful expression – realised they had made an enormous mistake.”
Christopher Rees, prosecuting, said the offending happened between September 2019 and February this year.
The court heard the defendant created a fake profile on a dating site, using a photo of the dad from south Wales.
Mr Rees told the court: “He was completely unaware his photo was being used by the defendant, who was intent on grooming underage girls.”
Price contacted “Talia”, who was really a woman from the Scorpion Hunters group. She stated early in the conversation she was 14.
Prosecutors said there was an “extensive” chat log, of 61 pages.
Price sent the person he believed to be a child explicit pictures and videos and asked for indecent images of her. The court heard he arranged to meet her in January, but did not go.
Mr Rees said the man whose picture the defendant was using was visited at his home by “four large men” just before Christmas.
They accused him in front of his elderly mother of being a paedophile.
Mr Rees said: “He was bombarded with abuse on social media.”
He added: “[He] had no idea what these men were talking about and contacted the police himself.”
The court heard Scorpion Hunters put the innocent man’s picture on their Facebook page. He was arrested and spent 36 hours in custody, unable to spend Christmas with his son.
He was released on bail and the defendant kept contacting Talia, asking her for naked pictures of herself.
Price was identified by the police, who searched his home and arrested him at work. When he was interviewed, he admitted talking to Talia.
The defendant accepted he believed she was 14 and admitted asking her for naked photos. He accepted making arrangements to meet her, but did not go as a family member was unwell.
Mr Rees said all of the offences involved grooming behaviour, but no actual harm was caused to any child.
Judge Jones noted there was a “significant impact” on the innocent dad.
The prosecutor said: “He became a pariah in the local area. There was a significant deterioration in his mental health. He was not exonerated until the arrest of this defendant in February.”
Price had two previous convictions, which were not relevant.
The 53-year-old, from Barry Road in Barry, admitted attempting sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child and two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
Clare Wilks, for Price, said her client accepted creating a fake profile and chose the picture of a “younger and more attractive man”.
She added: “He had no idea that man would be tracked in the way he was. This, perhaps, is the danger of paedophile hunter groups.”
Ms Wilks said the defendant, a father of three and a grandfather, wanted to apologise to the innocent man who was investigated. She told the court Price was shy. He joined the dating site, which specified it was for over-18s – he was not aiming to speak to girls.
Judge Jones described the man whose picture was used as “entirely innocent” and asked if the “so-called paedophile hunters” had been charged.
Price was jailed for three years and the judge made an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Price will have to register as a sex offender indefinitely.