A man accused of trying to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex was caught and confronted by a group of ‘paedophile hunters’.
Three members of the group cornered the 30-year-old man inside a shopping centre in Kent, England, who then burst into tears when accused of “being here today to meet a 13-year-old girl for the purpose of sex.”
The encounter was filmed by the men – who choose to remain anonymous – and posted onto YouTube. They then showed him screen grabs of an alleged conversation with the young girl, telling the man that he’d be arrested and his house searched, before police arrived.
Kent Police confirmed a man in the area was arrested and his house to be searched. He has been bailed pending further enquiries.
The ‘vigilantes’ seem to be acting outside of the law, trying to catch the paeophile predators by themselves. One of the men pretends to be a teen girl, then saves chat logs and hands them over to police.
However, Detective Inspector Robert Chitham of the Paedophile Online Investigation Team at Kent Police said that the public shouldn’t take part in this behaviour as it’s highly dangerous.
“I would discourage people from taking the law into their own hands to avoid them being put in any possible danger,” he said.
“Revealing the identity of suspected paedophiles, often on the basis of little information, could lead to suspects being threatened.”
“This can divert significant police resources into protecting suspects, which would be better invested in investigating and, where there is evidence, prosecuting them.”
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