The Paedophile Hunter.

[HutchGF]

Paedophiles are surely the worst human beings out there. Anything that means less of them on the streets abusing children can only be a good thing imho.

[kinboshi]

Paedophiles are surely the worst human beings out there. Anything that means less of them on the streets abusing children can only be a good thing imho.

But as pointed out previously by some erudite posters, his actions and vigilantism doesn't necessarily mean fewer child abusers on the streets.

[muckthenuts]

Ignoring the issue of child abuse for a minute, the paedophile hunter himself just came across as your average bullying thug. This was shown a lot but particularly in the bit where he was literally threatening and enticing people to assault that guy as he followed him through Nuneaton, which served precisely zero purpose other than to intimidate him. This sort of 'career path' he's picked enables him to do that and justify it and there's no way he wasn't getting a kick out of it. As far as vigilantes go he was far from a heroic one imo.

[The Camel]

Felt like I needed a shower after watching that programme.

Don't know who creeped me out more, the men turning up with a bottle of Lambusco for a cosy night of chinese food, scary movies and nookie with their 13 year old lovers or Stinson himself.

"I could beat this dog to within an inch of her life and she'd still running come to me. Not that I would, like".

Sordid, horrible television programme.

[The Camel]

Stinson Hunter has got a kickstarter site, where people can donate to his cause.

Now we find out the real motive for his crusade.

Making a few quid on top of his benefit money.

[neeko]

Stinson Hunter has got a kickstarter site, where people can donate to his cause.

Now we find out the real motive for his crusade.

Making a few quid on top of his benefit money.

Hope it gets taxed  

[The Wycher]

Paedophiles are surely the worst human beings out there. Anything that means less of them on the streets abusing children can only be a good thing imho.

I think the problem is that generally they are not on the street openly abusing children it is done in the children's own home often by people known to them and therefore it is not likely to stopped by this sort of action. As a father of two young children I would agree it is the worst crime but not sure I can agree with vigilantes. There have been enough stories in the past of people being wrongly identified and attacked.

[RED-DOG]

Paedophiles are surely the worst human beings out there. Anything that means less of them on the streets abusing children can only be a good thing imho.

Would you shoot ten men each morning if nine were innocent and one was a pedophile?

[DungBeetle]

Wouldn't be putting myself in the situation to be.

A few years ago I was called for jury service and was foreman on a child sex absuse case. Long story short the ex-wife of the accused had a daughter from a previous marriage and two kids with the accused. She won custody of the two children that they had together in the divorce but decided to extort him for more money on top of agreed child support, wouldn't let him see his children etc. Once the last penny ran out these historical abuse accusations surface, dating back to when his then step-daughter was 13/14.

The guy ends up going through a two year ordeal fighting these accusations, we found him not guilty of 9 counts of indecent or sexual assault on a minor after 15 minutes of deliberation. I spoke to him and his new mrs outside the court after and alright he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but as far as I could tell he was just a regular guy.

If anyone that was innocent of such crimes would never put themselves in a situation to be wrongfully accused, shouldn't be just save the expense of an investigation and trial and just lock 'em up?

Was it a slam dunk verdict where the ex wife's motives are clear?  If so did the ex wife get punished in this case?  I imagine not but live in hope.

[The Camel]

Paedophiles are surely the worst human beings out there. Anything that means less of them on the streets abusing children can only be a good thing imho.

Would you shoot ten men each morning if nine were innocent and one was a pedophile?

This is the most powerful argument against the death penalty.

I would have thought even the most hard right wingers can not defend the death penalty against these words.

Doesn't seem to stop the Americans killing plenty of innocent men every year though.

[DungBeetle]

I guess the debate against the death penalty is more "if you killed 100 men and 98 were child killers would that be acceptable"?  Surely it's a given that a justice system must have a high level of competence before a death penalty can even be considered.

[bobby1]

Thought it was a really interesting piece and I'm a bit surprised by the general reaction to it. Seems most people have looked at the guy and judged him on appearance and thought ,tattooed up, face jewellery ex con tricking men into getting caught with young girls.'

Why would it be different if he was a policeman who headed a dept doing exactly the same?

Think they interviewed an ex policeman who used to trawl thru sites posing as a young girl having conversations with men and said himself that even when he told them he was in his early teens there were still sexually motivated conversations. If a team of police had the time to do this and had convicted 10 men that would be a good thing wouldn't it?

[The Camel]

Thought it was a really interesting piece and I'm a bit surprised by the general reaction to it. Seems most people have looked at the guy and judged him on appearance and thought ,tattooed up, face jewellery ex con tricking men into getting caught with young girls.'

Why would it be different if he was a policeman who headed a dept doing exactly the same?

Think they interviewed an ex policeman who used to trawl thru sites posing as a young girl having conversations with men and said himself that even when he told them he was in his early teens there were still sexually motivated conversations. If a team of police had the time to do this and had convicted 10 men that would be a good thing wouldn't it?

The guy himself has said he doesn't think most of the men he catches are paedophiles.

He is targeting insecure, lonely and pathetic men and tricking them into making a mistake which they will regret for the rest of their lives.

I don't have much sympathy for these guys, they are obviously the bottom of a very sordid barrel.

But I don't get all this bestowing hero status on Stinson Hunter.

He's just the other side of the same coin IMO

[WotRTheChances]

Thought it was a really interesting piece and I'm a bit surprised by the general reaction to it. Seems most people have looked at the guy and judged him on appearance and thought ,tattooed up, face jewellery ex con tricking men into getting caught with young girls.'

Why would it be different if he was a policeman who headed a dept doing exactly the same?

Think they interviewed an ex policeman who used to trawl thru sites posing as a young girl having conversations with men and said himself that even when he told them he was in his early teens there were still sexually motivated conversations. If a team of police had the time to do this and had convicted 10 men that would be a good thing wouldn't it?

The guy himself has said he doesn't think most of the men he catches are paedophiles.

He is targeting insecure, lonely and pathetic men and tricking them into making a mistake which they will regret for the rest of their lives.

I don't have much sympathy for these guys, they are obviously the bottom of a very sordid barrel.

But I don't get all this bestowing hero status on Stinson Hunter.

He's just the other side of the same coin IMO

Not sure i agree with this. It's not so much that the guy is targeting 'lonely and pathetic men'. From what I gathered he would just set up an online profile and wait for these people to contact him. It's not like he was actively persuing old men and thrusting these fictional children upon them. Furthermore, it's one thing to fantasize about persons significantly younger than youself, but to actively search for them online and then not only have extended communications with those persons, but to also make the effort to go to their houses (one can only assume to engage in sexual activities with these minors) is a quite significant step to take. Imo it's pretty sick to have fantasies or fetishes about under-age people, but to actively pursue them and show willingness to engage in illegal activities with them is pretty sick and in my mind they can be branded paedophiles at that level of involvement.

Fwiw having just watched the first episode of this, seems like this Stinson bloke could certainly do a much more professional job of what he is doing, which would help his cases be more admissible in court. I'd certainly want a bit more physical protection if i were him too! I know on the American show 'To Catch A Predator' it's done much more securely, with security staff positioned in case anything goes wrong and they link their efforts with local police, who wait outside to arrest the guys after clear evidence has been gathered. I quite like the lower budget version to be honest, but it would work better if more focus was given to the ultimate goal of his work, which has to be getting solid evidence and allowing maximum sentences to be passed forward. It's all well and good 'bypassing all the red tape' as he put it, but if it leads to minimal sentences and evidence being unusable, it's a bit anticlimactic

[The Camel]

Thought it was a really interesting piece and I'm a bit surprised by the general reaction to it. Seems most people have looked at the guy and judged him on appearance and thought ,tattooed up, face jewellery ex con tricking men into getting caught with young girls.'

Why would it be different if he was a policeman who headed a dept doing exactly the same?

Think they interviewed an ex policeman who used to trawl thru sites posing as a young girl having conversations with men and said himself that even when he told them he was in his early teens there were still sexually motivated conversations. If a team of police had the time to do this and had convicted 10 men that would be a good thing wouldn't it?

The guy himself has said he doesn't think most of the men he catches are paedophiles.

He is targeting insecure, lonely and pathetic men and tricking them into making a mistake which they will regret for the rest of their lives.

I don't have much sympathy for these guys, they are obviously the bottom of a very sordid barrel.

But I don't get all this bestowing hero status on Stinson Hunter.

He's just the other side of the same coin IMO

Not sure i agree with this. It's not so much that the guy is targeting 'lonely and pathetic men'. From what I gathered he would just set up an online profile and wait for these people to contact him. It's not like he was actively persuing old men and thrusting these fictional children upon them. Furthermore, it's one thing to fantasize about persons significantly younger than youself, but to actively search for them online and then not only have extended communications with those persons, but to also make the effort to go to their houses (one can only assume to engage in sexual activities with these minors) is a quite significant step to take. Imo it's pretty sick to have fantasies or fetishes about under-age people, but to actively pursue them and show willingness to engage in illegal activities with them is pretty sick and in my mind they can be branded paedophiles at that level of involvement.

Fwiw having just watched the first episode of this, seems like this Stinson bloke could certainly do a much more professional job of what he is doing, which would help his cases be more admissible in court. I'd certainly want a bit more physical protection if i were him too! I know on the American show 'To Catch A Predator' it's done much more securely, with security staff positioned in case anything goes wrong and they link their efforts with local police, who wait outside to arrest the guys after clear evidence has been gathered. I quite like the lower budget version to be honest, but it would work better if more focus was given to the ultimate goal of his work, which has to be getting solid evidence and allowing maximum sentences to be passed forward. It's all well and good 'bypassing all the red tape' as he put it, but if it leads to minimal sentences and evidence being unusable, it's a bit anticlimactic

Yeah, I don't doubt these guys are scumbags.

But they probably answer 100s of ads on these sites, and it is so rare to get a response from the women except for ads from porn sites, that they don't give a damn who they are talking to.