A Citizen Journalist Lured And Got Paedophiles Arrested By Pretending To Be An Online Teenager
Calling himself a 'paedophile hunter', Stinson Hunter faced a sex attacker, whom he lured by pretending to be a child. At Nuneaton, Warwickshire, he worked with a team to identify and quickly catch internet perverts, which included soldiers, teachers and solicitors. His film, "The Paedophile Hunter" has so far managed to collect £15,000 in order to pave the way for forthcoming paedophile-based projects after his controversial documentary was aired last Wednesday, on October 1, at Channel 4. Check out the details here. Stinson has gained a lot of popularity through a crowd-funding website Kickstarter. He has called it his project executed with "brutal, no-holds-barred honesty."
The film, one hour long, was interesting, though shot with a crude and shaky hand camera. The "sex hunter" walked in, and the vigilante asked him who he was, and used his camera to shoot the entrant. But when he sensed that something was wrong, the man started absconding, and was chased. The two men called out to him and threatened that he would be handed over to the police. One of the two told him: "Sir, I suggest you stop and talk, your information is going to be handed to the police."
Following the 31-year-old and his group of people as they chased the others, the documentary specified that each of the team had to live out a specific role. The paedophile was caught by people who pretended to be teenagers. When they got specific messages and videos, they were lured by the men to gather at a house. There, they were filmed with handheld cameras and mobile phones and asked to explain. These messages were then given to the cops.
Two vigilantes were nearby, behind blinds, nervous. They waited in a nearby house, in which they stood with handheld cameras and mobile phones, prepared to meet the paedophile. As soon as they shouted: "Taxi's here," the pair, one of them with a camera, waited to confront him when he came up to them.
It was a simple and rather shakily shot film, but it has drawn crowds and a lot of interest. Check what the viewers and reactants have to say in his Facebook page to note the number of supporters he has. He has also put up online videos. His methods have been both praised and criticised. Stinson's methods came under fire last year after one man whom he met, 45-year-old Michael Parkes, committed suicide. But Jim Gamble, the former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), said the former drug addict showed how people can catch paedophiles even if they have little training for it. However, many feel that it has to be done by law enforcement agencies. Even it cannot be really justified, at least it does open a way for the government to ensure that it could be done. The "investigative journalist" in the Coventry area was obviously someone who has gone through child abuse. Therefore he was "frustrated" and could target the paedophiles.
Stinson Hunter initially kept his face hidden from the public, but later admitted that he "always wanted to be on Channel 4." Should the police focus more on online stings, wonders Britain's former child protection chief Jim Gamble. He told the film's Bafta-winning director, Dan Reed: "We set the profile. It's like a rope and if they choose to put the rope around their neck and hang themselves that's their choice," according to Daily Mail. He denied that his team had "pushed them."
The risk is also that amateur investigations could make police investigations questionable, while the danger is that other imitative vigilantes may spring up, but ultimately, as Andrew Antony asks in The Guardian: "But one disturbing question you were left with is - why do so many grown men want to have sex with children?"