A Hove man has been arrested on suspicion of grooming an underage girl after a team of self-styled paedophile hunters staged a confrontation on camera.
The group, which has posted the encounter on Facebook, arranged to meet a man at Hove Station while posing as a teenage girl online.
Following the encounter, a 40-year-old Hove man was arrested by Sussex Police – but the force urged members of the public not to carry out similar investigations as they risked jeopardising evidence or being harmed themselves.
The vigilante group later posted explaining why they carried out the sting. They said: “We can not express enough how much anger we have towards these [people] when we challenge them, especially when they continue to deny and manipulate the situation, in spite of the evidence.
“We, as a team, have to maintain a level of self control, as violence towards them would not resolve the bigger issue. When they are standing in a dock, we want the harshest sentences without the added complications of them making ABH or GBH allegations, we need to set an example to all our children”
“We will not be silenced and will continue to a wider audience as possible, to make more people aware of the areas that they live in.
They added: “Our decoy spent six weeks chatting. At times it was soul destroying and at times was very manipulative, and the decoy had to leave the chat for four days due to him beginning to break the decoy down.
“After four days the decoy was back and this time we knew we had to bring him to a meet, we plodded on with him until yet again he arranged to meet the decoy, this time he had it all planned out and he decided he would book a day of from work so he could entertain the decoy.
“The things he said were just vile and he is a very twisted man.
“While his girlfriend was at work he thought he could bring the decoy back to the house and had said you must leave by 5pm … we now know why.
“He even went to lengths to try and blame his seven-year-old old child for chatting to the decoy.”
A Sussex Police spokesman said: “A 40-year-old Hove man was arrested outside Hove Railway Station on Tuesday morning, on suspicion of attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming, and of offering to commit indecent acts with a girl under 16.
“After being interviewed he was released on conditional police bail on Tuesday evening until 4 May while enquiries continue.
“We do not encourage members of the public to carry out investigations themselves, especially in such a sensitive type of case. They could jeopardise evidence, hinder chances of prosecution, or risk harm to themselves. Such matters should be reported to the police at the outset.”
do we know olif this man has been charged yet??
Not sure cos the police don’t always say if they have or not especially in cases like this. They are worried about him being attacked also they don’t want to encourage vigilantes by giving them a result, the guy may even receive police protection cos of the video of him. He more than likely has been charged though