By Gemma Fraser
Head of content
“Right everybody, that’s the police arrived on scene. We are out here giving the details, there’s a police car there. We’ll give you an update as soon as we know. Thanks everybody.”
The video of the arrest of Brian* outside his home is being recorded and live streamed online.
Moments before the police arrived, Brian was sitting at his kitchen table, being questioned by so-called ‘paedophile hunters’ about his inappropriate communications with a teenage girl.
“We’re here because you were grooming children online,” the female voice behind the camera says. “I’ve got the chat logs here.”
The woman tells Brian she has seen the naked photos he sent to the girl. “That’s shocking to show a [teenage] girl that,” she says, filming the whole conversation.
The video lasts just under 20 minutes, the disturbing details of what Brian is alleged to have done laid bare for the hundreds who tuned in.
Child protection vigilante groups are on the increase across the UK, which is no coincidence as the number of online child sexual abuse and exploitation reports have increased by more than 20 per cent, and the National Crime Agency estimates that 1.3 per cent to 1.6 per cent of adults in the UK pose varying degrees of risk to children.
But the extent to which these groups are a help or hindrance when it comes to protecting children and catching sexual predators is complex.
Their tactics are varied, but most involve the use of a ‘decoy’ posing as a child to lure a paedophile out into the open, doxing (the ‘naming and shaming’ tactics which are commonly used by paedophile hunting groups), or a combination of both.
“Vigilantism of this kind has been around for a really long time, but the internet has enabled it in a different way,” explains Shane Horgan, a lecturer in criminology at Edinburgh Napier University.
“It’s not new, but what social media has done in the past 10 years is allow a new way of targeting people and luring them out, and making their action more visible.”
He adds: “Crime in general has a hierarchy of standing. We care as a society more about certain crimes than others, and as soon as you have crimes that involve children, those immediately shoot to the top of priority in terms of what we want to do something about and want to get justice for.”
In the East Lothian town of Dunbar, a couple of months earlier, a crowd gathered outside a flat occupied by a man found guilty of installing a secret camera in his home to spy on children undressing.
The details of David Craig’s court case, along with where he lived, were shared on social media, and the next day dozens of angry vigilantes gathered outside the flat for one joint purpose: to get him to leave the town.
Video footage shows Craig being led away by police as the crowds became increasingly aggressive and threatening, hurling insults as he was escorted from the property and into a police car.
“The case about David Craig is put into the category of doxing,” says Horgan. “The idea that you gather as much information about a target as possible and then publish it online – personal details, address, phone numbers.
“It’s an increasingly common tactic used in any kind of vigilante form of justice, and arguably in activism as well.”
Criminology lecturer Shane Horgan
Craig, who was found guilty of charges of possessing and making indecent images of children following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, was placed on a supervision order for three years and told he must complete the maximum term of 300 hours of unpaid work.
He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years and given a strict conduct requirement that includes him being prohibited from having any electronic devices and camera equipment without prior approval.
But, as Horgan explains, this was not seen as an adequate punishment by the vigilantes who subsequently took matters into their own hands.
“In the case of David Craig, it’s an interesting one because they’ve been found guilty,” continues Horgan. “The offence has been committed, the courts have recognised it. In theory, justice has been distributed.
“It becomes a slippery slope because as soon as you start poking holes, saying that punishment wasn’t fair, then it’s easy to extend that and you give up trust in the fact that the courts do their job and know what they’re doing, or that the police do their jobs and they know what they’re doing.
“The defence of the group will be that the conventional justice system failed them, and that they need to take justice into their own hands for the public good.
“On the other hand, even though in this case they’re just doxing, that obviously led to a situation where that person was going to be at risk of physical harm and then that causes the police quite a lot of resource expenditure and puts officers at risk trying to keep them safe, trying to get them out.
“Morally it’s a really tricky one. It’s got lots of avenues that you can go through. I can’t see in this context it being good for policing because ultimately, beyond the resource expenditure required to deal with it, the police are already in an ongoing struggle with every local community for their trust and confidence.
“And as soon as you have groups who work outside of them who are seen to do a ‘better’ job, that only makes their role harder. I don’t think the police can win in this situation. It’s harmful, not just physically, but reputationally.”
Police Scotland told 1919 that it does not “endorse, condone or encourage” the activities of online activist groups – although officers do engage with them when necessary.
“Police Scotland will always respond when information is received to suggest a child or young person may be at risk of harm, with a focus on identifying and mitigating any risk posed,” says Detective Superintendent Nicola McGovern, of Police Scotland’s Public Protection Unit.
“We have a duty to respond to reports received from groups or individuals who advise that they have identified a person who may pose a risk to children.
“When such a report is received, the overarching priority will be to identify and manage any immediate risk to a child or young person or any other person, and thereafter carry out thorough investigation.
“It is necessary for Police Scotland to engage with online child sexual abuse activist groups (OCAGs) to secure an evidential account of the circumstances giving rise to their presence at a particular location, and to ensure the incident is dealt with appropriately, safely and professionally.
“We will ensure that a clear and consistent message is provided to such groups and individuals that they are acting independently of the police, and that criminal investigations are matters for the police and not members of the public.
“Police officers attending reports of this nature will assess the information provided and respond in a manner proportionate to the risks presented.
“Investigations will likely result in a report to the Procurator Fiscal, where a further assessment of the circumstances will be made.”
She adds: “Whilst it is not possible to provide prescriptive guidance regarding every situation that may arise when police officers attend incidents involving OCAG activity, it is acknowledged that there is usually a potential for public disorder/disturbances to be ongoing upon police arrival. Public safety will take priority in such circumstances.
“Police Scotland does not endorse, condone or encourage the activities of OCAGs and do not work with them or their members, nor advise them how to carry out their activities.”
Research by Dr Anna Tippett examining to what extent cyber-vigilante groups are a productive form of policing, retribution and justice, surveyed members of the public on their views of vigilante justice.
“Police Scotland does not endorse, condone or encourage the activities of online child sexual abuse activist groups and do not work with them or their members, nor advise them how to carry out their activities”
Detective Superintendent Nicola McGovern
Her paper highlighted several cases of doxing which have had tragic endings. Gary Cleary was found hanged at his Leicestershire home in May 2023, after a group called Letzgo Hunting contacted him online, posing as a 14-year-old girl.
And in 2019, an inquest heard that Nigel Sherratt, from Cannock in Staffordshire, took his own life days after being confronted by online paedophile hunters.
The research concludes: “The objectives of cyber-vigilante groups and the tactics they use produce a range of emotive responses.
“Although respondents in this study were generally agreeable to the aims of such groups, the methods they use to achieve their own form of justice constituted grey areas where morality and righteousness, for many respondents, were blurred.
“The social harms produced by doxing were deemed an infringement of human rights and compromised the legal principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’.”
But for the paedophile hunters, an online evidence-gathering exercise which results in a sting, doxing, and a suspected abuser being taken away by police for questioning – as in the case of Brian – is a job well done.
“I’d like to say a big thank you to Police Scotland for their prompt response and how good they were,” the voice says from behind the camera as the police put him in the car.
“Well done polis, perfect, spot on,” another voice agrees.
*Brian’s name has been changed for legal reasons.