Paedophile hunting groups warned after stream led to violent disorder

A group of angry vigilantes turned up at Kevin Wilkes’ Prescot home and in the melee two policemen were injured.

Judge: 'Vigilantism must not be encouraged'

Sentencing the 58-year-old divorcé, who had to move out of his home for his own safety on police advice, Judge David Swinnerton warned that vigilantism must not be encouraged.

He said that some paedophile hunting groups “behave carefully with dignity but such groups need to be careful that their actions do not lead to the sort of thing that happened here where a large group gathered outside Wilkes' home resulting in public disorder.”

The judge said he believed that a couple of police officers were injured. “This is wholly unacceptable.”

He pointed out that the way the group involved in the incident had conducted themselves as shown in the live-streaming footage would not have been admissible evidence in a trial.

“All of these groups need to be careful that they behave within the confines of the law and in a way should they wish to produce evidence to a court is done in a right way otherwise they undermine their own purpose.

“No one wants to see encouragement of vigilantes and public disorder.”

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Defendant chatted to decoy profile of '13-year-old boy'

Wilkes, formerly of Johnson Avenue, Prescot, who pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to incite a girl to engage in sexual activity, was sentenced to eight months imprisonment suspended for 18 months.

“You were challenged for 31 minutes by a group carrying out a sting. You’ve been pretty frank which suggests it is possible for probation to work with you, “ said Judge Swinnerton.

He ordered Wilkes, who had previously been remanded in custody, to attend a Horizon probation course and carry out 10 days rehabilitation activities.

The defendant was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order was imposed for the same period.

Chris Taylor, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that in February this year Wilkes began chatting to a 13-year-old decoy profile set up by the Child Online Safety Team.

He communicated with whom he thought was the child on WhatsApp and Facebook. The messages became sexualised and he sent her a photograph of himself in his boxer shorts.

Wilkes chatted with the 'boy' on WhatsApp and Facebook (Image: Stock)

Mr Taylor said Wilkes made reference to "being horny and pornography" and said "they were sex videos.

On February 10 members of the group confronted him at his place of work after tricking his employers into confirming he was there by claiming there was a family emergency.

The confrontation lasted 31 minutes and was live-streamed while he was interrogated by them.

“It was that footage and local publicity that led to his address,” said Mr Taylor, adding that was when police officers were injured.

He said the way the paedophile hunting group had behaved has been referred to his managers and will be discussed with the police.

When interviewed the defendant, who has a conviction about 40 years for indecent assault, made no comment.

Carmel Wilde, defending, said that Wilkes “accepts his behaviour is shameful and disgusting.”

He thought those who confronted him were connected with the police and they took his phone from him and it was a most humiliating experience.

He was called a “dirty rotten man” and “You're lucky it's not my daughters, I would have taken your head off.” He was told the footage would be shown all over the country and that they were looking all lover the country for ‘dirty bastards like you.’

“It was full on, as shocking as this offending. There are paedophile groups who act with dignity and this wasn’t one of them.”

She said that it ended up with a large hostile group outside his home and damage was caused. He had to move out for his own safety and needs to find a new home.

He wants help with his thought processes to understand why he behaved in that way and he has been frank with the probation service.

He became depressed and lonely after his marriage broke down and his children do not speak to him. He also turned to alcohol which was a disinhibitor, said Miss Wilde.