For safeguarding reasons the sting which instigated by a paedophile hunting group, ‘Confronted and Caught’, and was watched by thousands of viewers live on Facebook last night cannot now be shown. However, the story about the ‘sting’ may be shared.

A 19-year-old man was ‘stung’ by the vigilante group who detained him at the Skate Park near Stanley Park  at around 7 p.m. last night (Tuesday, March 14). The incident was live-streamed for an hour before police arrived and arrested the man. In the live stream, the vigilantes accused the man of attempting to meet up with a 12-year-old girl who they claimed he had sexually groomed online.

The man was challenged about sexually explicit conversations he had allegedly had with with the school girl, before revealing that she was not a 12-year-old – but actually an adult decoy who was posing as a child in a bid to expose him. The group said the 19-year-old male was targeted after parents of real school children had come forward with deep concerns about inappropriate conversations he had allegedly pursued with their young daughters over social media.

Police arrived at the scene and officers took the accused man into custody. At that point the live stream ended,  and, due to safeguarding concerns, footage of the ‘sting’ has since been taken down