Use of ‘paedophile hunter’ evidence increases seven-fold in three years
The national lead for child protection has urged self-styled paedophile hunters not to set up sting operations as figures reveal evidence from the groups was used to charge at least 150 suspects last year.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to every police force in England and Wales, in which 29 replied, showed a 650 per cent increase in the use of the evidence over a three-year period.
But Chief Constable Simon Bailey said the vigilantes are “taking risks they don’t understand and can undermine police investigations”.
The groups use ‘decoys’ to pose as underage children and wait for adults to message them privately.
They then arrange a meeting with the individual at a public place, often live streaming the confrontation while waiting for officers to arrive at the scene.
However, police forces warn the groups’ actions may interfere with surveillance operations and the evidence gathered is sometimes illegally obtained, leading to the collapse of a case.
Last April, a group called ‘The Hunted One’ confronted a man at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, who had been speaking to a decoy.
During the Facebook livestream, a group of men who were watching the video turned up and began attacking the man before officers arrived at the scene.
Nottinghamshire Chief Constable Craig Guildford has urged the vigilantes not to target individuals but remains positive about their contribution as decoy profiles have led to 26 convictions for the force in the last 12 months.
Assistant Chief Constable Catherine Hankinson, of West Yorkshire Police, said those involved in paedophile hunter groups should submit evidence to their force and “let us deal with it”.
“It does present significant risks when these groups confront individuals, first of all for themselves – these are often very high-octane, emotional situations,” she told BBC Look North.
“There’s significant risk for the individuals that they are confronting, not least because it might sometimes be an innocent member of the public or it might actually disrupt a wider undercover policing investigation that we’ve got ongoing.”
Of the forces that responded to the FOI, 47 per cent of cases that involved an individual meeting a child following online sexual grooming used evidence from paedophile hunting groups last year.
The supplied data showed just 20 cases being supported by the vigilantes in 2015, compared to 150 in 2017.
Mr Bailey said: “We understand the desire to protect children but any member of the public who has information about child sexual abuse, online or otherwise, should get in contact with the police so we can investigate and bring people to justice.
“So-called paedophile hunters are taking risks they don’t understand and can undermine police investigations. Most importantly, unlike our officers, they have no way of safeguarding child victims.
“The increase in these groups is symptomatic of the increasing scale of child sexual abuse that police are dealing with. It reinforces the need for technology companies to do more to prevent offenders using their platforms to prey on children and for children to be educated about healthy relationships and staying safe online.”
Detective Superintendent Darren Minton, of West Yorkshire Police’s safeguarding central governance unit, added: “As a force we work very carefully to make sure we meet guidelines as set out nationally about this issue.
“We always appeal to any victims of sexual offences to come forward and report crimes to police and to people who may have seen or witnessed illegal activity to let us know.
“We will always want to hear from people who believe they have identified something but what we don’t do is rely on them to undertake the investigations themselves. We have had an investment of resources to tackle the issue of indecent images and have a number of undercover officers working in this area.”