To think that this is not ok?

[angularmerkel]

I have just seen a live stream on my fb feed of a man being 'stung' by a 'paedophile hunting' team. It was not far from me (next town along) and people were all commenting along the lines of 'bang to rights', 'hang him', 'paedo' and similar and much worse.

The thing is this was a live stream - this guy's wife was apparently away on a hen weekend, so it's not out of the realms of probability that she could have been viewing this incident live. Not to mention other friends, family members and people who may have children who know this guy and who would, understandably, be upset and horrified to be seeing this unfold.

AIBU to think that it's not ok for 'paedophile stings' like this to be shown on social media? However horrible the alleged crime might be they should have the normal rights anybody has in law (remain silent, innocent until proven guilty etc) but moreover their friends and family shouldn't find out what has happened via a fb feed?

Were they the police?

I have issues with vigilantism too.

No @beanie690 I don't think so. The police turned up whilst they were filming but their interrogation of this guy went on for a while before they turned up.

I am glad you are thinking of his wife and family, and his friends with kids because he wasn't.

Was it Stinston Hunter by any chance? Dp knows him and he tricks the pedophiles pretending to be the child themselves and he reports them to the police as soon as they turn up at the address they give out where said child is supposed to live.
His main focus is to protect children from these people.

Whilst I see your point and respect it, I care more for the kids who are vulnerable than his family.

i may have seen the same one - or something similar, did he hasve a bar of chocolate in his pocket?

anyway, i dont know how i feel - one half of me says serves him right and the other half is very very uncomfortable with it

@Forevertired19 I didn't notice who it was who had done the sting. It was at least one man and one woman, plus whoever was filming it.

Whatever the bloke himself had done it's surely not ok that his wife finds out in this way? What do the 'stingers' gain from live streaming it? If it was just about catching paedophiles then surely carrying out the sting, recording it for evidence and handing over the recording to police should be enough? Or am I missing something?

@Custardo - he'd taken a bunch of daffodils for the 14 year old he was supposed to be meeting.

Yeah, the whole thing smacks of vigilantism to me. If it was just to protect kids why stream it and share online? Doing so runs the risk of jeopardising and future criminal proceedings, not to mention any operations police may have underway. It is purely self publicity.

I'll be probably flamed for this but I give a shitty notty. "If he is guilty of these dispicable acts against defencless innocent children. Then as far as I'm concerned he should loose all his human rights. If a dirty vile perverted beast put a hand on my dd nephews. I'd rip it off with my bare hands. I have no problems and make no apologies whatsoever with saying that.
Oh and yes of course I feel heartily sorry for his wife. She must be knocked sick.

The issue is that really there is no proper evidence and one day they will get the wrong person. If they have evidence, by all means film it and ha d it to the police. Broadcasting it live for every tom, dick and harry to see is a recipe for disaster as someone will carry out their own brand of justice. That's not acceptable in civilised society.

Yes, I agree with you. Streaming it live is all just a bit too exciting for the ones doing the 'sting'. Makes me think their motives are not that squeaky clean.

That's the point though Awwlook, the word IF.

If he is guilty. It's up to the police to investigate crime and the justice system in this country to decide IF somebody is guilty. Not some group of people after 15 minutes of fame.

I’ve got no problem with it as long as the perv is guilty. And frankly, their wives don’t have more rights than the children being abused.

This is always popping up in the DM
it’s the live streaming that’s fucked up about it. Just do it, give the evidence over and leave it to the police.

I'm pretty uncomfortable with this too. I enjoy a good video of somebody's reaction when they've parked appallingly badly and come back to find themselves unable to get into their car - there was one of these charging round facebook a couple of days ago. But trapping a suspected paedophile and broadcasting it live? No, very wrong.

That's exactly it @NotAgainYoda it's as though the 'hunters' are getting pleasure from doing it.

I have no sympathy for the bloke doing this if his plan was to meet a child and he should be dealt with and punished with the full force of the law but I feel very uncomfortable about the motives of people who do this.

What if they had got it wrong and, say, there was case of mistaken identity? Once something is on a live stream it's out there and can't be removed, surely?

Whilst I understand they're trying to do what they think is right, the levels of "evidence" they collect is very rarely enough to convict anyone so all that happens is people have the shit beaten out of them for something that isn't proven.

I by no means sympathise with anyone that abuses children but if they're a large threat the police will often catch them with a small amount of involvement from the general public, all you need to do is voice your concerns. A lot of the chats had online are also being watched by the police anyway. I say leave it to the police, it's their job after all and they know how to do it properly

I wonder if it's the same man and woman who did one near mine around Christmas time? They got a guy who used to stalk me and he was arrested and I think he's got 16 months.

Saw it live on Facebook and couldn't believe it when I saw it, But wasn't surprised...I was more surprised that it was literally round the corner from me, literally on the corner of my road an I had no idea he'd lived there

I agree it's not fair as people find out and start abusing family, this guy I know had people turning up to his old work and harassing his ex work mates/ex friends - that's not on

Also the live streaming could affect the prosecution. I'm sure a competent defence lawyer could make a case that the publicity means that his client couldn't have a fair trial and ask for the case to be dismissed. And there are still laws about libel and slander.

The guy dp knows does it to show his face for awareness. He does not intervene with the police side of it. But he shows online for kids who's parents may not know what they could be doing that there's a potential groomer etc.

Dp and I discussed yesterday. Apparently now (not sure how true it is) in prisons pedophiles are now put away from other criminals due to being beaten, killed etc by other inmates who hate child abuse. Dp basically thought it was wrong as the pedophiles has probably taken a life of an innocent vulnerable child if said pedophile raped the child etc. The mental health issues would be the individual for life.

But if it were me and my dp went out to groom kids etc, Id want to know nor would I be embarrassed. I'd hope he would get kicked down there and then. That's me though.

He may have family. But a child shouldn't suffer

This is the modus operandi of this vigilance group. They set a honey trap and film the guy when he turns up to meet the fictitious girl. They did it to a guy I used to work with. He attempted suicide the next day.

What I completely failed to understand was the attitude of my colleagues. They all have daughters yet felt sympathy for him. They were really taken aback when I said I had massive sympathy for his family, particularly his wife of three weeks (yes, you read that right) and zero sympathy for him.

There’s a group of ‘hunters’ near me too and I have issues with it. A recent love catch resulted in groups hanging around the suspects house. He was in police custody by then and all that was achieved was creating more stress for his innocent elderly disabled father.

No one is saying that a paedophiles wife should have more rights than the kids they abuse but doing these stings in private rather than live does no more to help and protect kids, it could potentially save someone who’s ended up being part of it through no fault of their own.

Nowhere in my heart or soul can I muster up any sympathy for a pedo who thinks he is going to meet a 14yo child with a view to having sex with her.
Whilst I don’t agree with vigilantes and the live streaming will mean the chances of a successful prosecution are now almost zero I really don’t care about him, his wife or any family. He and only he made the choice to meet up with a child, so he can sort the consequences.