The Power of the Paedos - another high profile case hits the 'never happened' wall?

[Jan Klimkowski]

Citizen investigators filling the void....

According to the producer of the BBC programme who was interviewed live on the telly this morning, Stone pleaded guilty to the charges, which is why the evidence - including presumably that of Letzgo Hunting - did not have to be presented in court.

Police warn against vigilantism after paedophile is jailed

James Stone, 24, was pursued by group Letzgo Hunting, but police say such organisations could compromise investigations

Robert Booth
The Guardian, Friday 20 September 2013 18.26 BST

James Stone, 24, was jailed for eight years on child sex abuse charges. Photograph: Nottinghamshire police/PA

A child sex abuser targeted by a controversial vigilante group has been jailed for eight years at Nottingham crown court, sparking a fresh row over members of the public trying to entrap paedophiles.

James Stone, 24, was caught by Leicestershire-based group Letzgo Hunting after he groomed a 15-year-old in an internet chat room. Pretending to be a 16-year-old boy, he asked his victim to send him naked photographs, persuaded her to meet him in Nottingham on 3 March 2013 and took her to his flat where he manipulated her into performing sexual acts.

Letzgo Hunting has been beset by controversy and announced on Thursday it was halting operations. The move followed the suicide in May of Gary Cleary, another man whom the group had accused of online child grooming. Senior police officers have warned that such tactics could result in the deaths of child victims.

The group yesterday claimed the conviction as a major victory and issued a statement on its Facebook page saying: "Anyone who said we were frauds, fakes or not interested in child protection, eat your words!"

The victim's mother reported the crime to Letzgo Hunting before going to the police and credited the vigilantes with securing the conviction of her daughter's abuser. "If I won the lottery I would give everything to Letzgo Hunting for what they do and support them so they can help others like they helped me," she told a BBC investigation to be broadcast on Monday.

Nottinghamshire police said Letzgo Hunting had no role in Stone's conviction and warned vigilantism could jeopardise investigations. The group posed as a girl online and swapped messages with Stone in which he admitted engaging in sexual activity with his victim. They took video footage when they confronted him at the pub where he worked.

"They are claiming this was their first conviction but that is not the case," said a spokeswoman for Nottinghamshire police. "We acted on a report from the victim's mother."

Stone admitted grooming, sexual activity with a child, taking and possessing indecent images, possession of an indecent image with a view to distribution and possession of extreme pornography.

The vigilante group's leader, named Jamie, told BBC Inside Out East Midlands: "Without our involvement, he would never have been arrested. We get loads of messages from people saying they have reported someone for grooming to the police and they say there is nothing they can do. The police can't investigate in the same way as we can."

"They got the information," the victim's mother told the programme. "When they told me the severity of it, I was a wreck. I don't know how any other parent would react. In an ideal world all I wanted to do was go and find him myself. I couldn't even walk let alone speak to police. It was their evidence that was crucial. He had admitted to what he had done. He had admitted to meeting my daughter. He did that initially on the video but when the [police] arrested him he never said a word, no comment throughout so they wouldn't have had any information whatsoever. He spoke to Letzgo Hunting through the decoys … and he was happy, in great detail, to tell them all he wanted to do and take all their virginities, of children, young girls."

She warned other parents: "You need to be on the computer watching what your children are doing because as much as you think they are on your level they are still immature and they don't realise what's happening. Paedophiles know it is just between them and the child and before anyone can find out, they have got what they want, they have done what they want and then they throw them aside."

Another vigilante group, Stinson Hunter, is also operating. It lures potential child sex abusers and posts videos and transcripts of grooming chats online. The Association of Chief Police Officers warned the tactics could compromise ongoing investigations into paedophile networks. "One of our worst fears is that a 'sting' of this nature could spark an abuser to further harm or even take the life of a child to silence them if they feel threatened," said a spokesperson.