Police arrest man after midnight visit from Facebook ‘internet justice’ group

‘Keeping Kids Safe’, a self proclaimed ‘internet justice’ organisation Facebook live streamed their overnight visit to Wrexham at the weekend – a trip that resulted in the arrest of a local man. 

Several live streamed videos were publicly broadcast of the attempted confrontation, the first being viewed over 44,000 times by Monday. The video broadcasts started around midnight and carried on through the early hours of Saturday morning.

Keeping Kids Safe stated: “It was a 3 hour operation as he refused to answer the door to us and the police and forced entry was required”.

DS Tony Underhill of North Wales Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team said: “Officers attended an address in Monger Road Wrexham in the early hours of Saturday August 12 where a man was arrested on suspicion of arranging or facilitating a child related sexual offence.

“He has been released under investigation while enquiries continue.”

So-called ‘paedophile hunter’ groups often create fake online profiles as ‘decoys’ to interact with specific people. Such profiles are often based around the concept of adults interacting with children, unbeknownst to them the children are not real.

Recently a test case had been heard to decide if such groups should be regulated, as two people caught via use of evidence gathered by such operations argued such methods ‘diminished the integrity of the court process’. The court decided that there was no legal requirement for the activities to be regulated.

Previously the Association of Chief Police Officers have commented on such groups: “While these groups may often operate with the best of intentions, we do not encourage action of this kind, which can compromise ongoing investigations into paedophile networks, and could spark an abuser to further harm a child if they feel threatened.

“One of our worst fears as a police service is that groups such as these are infiltrated by the very people they are trying to identify and as they have no formal vetting or security processes they simply can’t guard against it.”

“As well as this, police often use covert methods – which for obvious reasons cannot be disclosed – to identify paedophiles, and vigilante operations by members of the public could unwittingly disrupt these investigations.”

A Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) spokesperson has also commented on similar activities: “While we understand the public’s desire to protect their children from online abuse, we do not encourage vigilante investigations of this nature as they can compromise ongoing investigations into paedophile networks, and could spark an abuser to harm a child if they feel threatened.

“Identifying alleged paedophiles is best left to the police and suspected incidents of online grooming can be reported to CEOP.”

Anyone concerned about a child’s safety should contact the police, the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000, CEOP on 0870 000 3344 or visit at www.ceop.police.uk