Police slam paedophile hunters for ‘incorrect’ allegations

POLICE have criticised so-called paedophile hunters following allegations made about a Cardiff man.

South Wales Police slammed “incorrect” evidence supplied by the group involving a man from the Adamsdown area.

The man has now been released with no further action being taken.

In a statement, Detective Constable Michael Healy described evidence from paedophile hunter groups as “poor” and in some cases a “cover for extortion and blackmail”.

He also raised concerns over a lack of protection for victims and safeguarding procedures for offenders.

He said: “While we will not work with these groups, we have a responsibility to investigate evidence that a serious crime has been committed, regardless of where it comes from.

“Protecting children is a policing priority – every month more than 500 people are arrested nationally for child sexual abuse and more than 700 children are protected from harm.”

He added: “We do not endorse these groups and will not work with them.

“Unlike our officers, these groups don’t offer any protection to victims, their evidence is often poor or – as in this case – incorrect and some do it as cover for extortion and blackmail.

“We’re also very concerned that these people are operating without any safeguarding procedures, which means other potential victims are not protected and offenders can become vulnerable to self-harm, extortion or, in some cases, suicide.”

In that past, evidence provided by paedophile hunter groups has led to a number of successful convictions in court.

They include a chef caught sending explicit messages to what he believed was a 14-yearold girl, and an Amazon worker who was caught by three different paedophile hunter groups while trying to meet young girls.

Paedophile-hunting groups have to make sure they stay within the law in order to secure a conviction.

Steps like ensuring the paedophile makes contact first and that they are first to ask about a meeting mean a better chance of conviction.

But researchers for the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme found that at least eight men have killed themselves after being confronted by paedophile hunters in the past six years.

The majority of the men took their own lives within days of being filmed and “named and shamed” on social media.