‘Paedophile hunters’ do not violate right to privacy, Supreme Court rules

Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by ManiaforBeatles

“Paedophile hunters” do not violate the right to privacy, the Supreme Court has ruled while dismissing a convict’s appeal.

Mark Sutherland was convicted after communicating with a member of an activist group, who he believed to be a 13-year-old boy.

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He appealed his conviction, arguing that his right to a private life and correspondence, enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Delivering the Supreme Court’s ruling on Wednesday, Lord Sales said the appeal had been “unanimously dismissed”.

“There was no interference with the accused’s rights under Article 8,” he added.

Lord Sales said Sutherland believed he was communicating with a 13-year-old boy, and had no “reasonable expectation of privacy” because a child could tell an adult.

He added that authorities have a “special responsibility to protect children against sexual exploitation by adults” and that overrides the right to privacy for such “reprehensible” communications.

“The interests of children have priority over any interest a paedophile could have in being allowed to engage in criminal conduct,” the judgment added.

The court heard that Sutherland was convicted of attempting to communicate indecently with an older child, and related offences, in August 2018.

A group called Groom Resisters Scotland had set up a fake profile on the dating app Grindr, which he engaged with.

After they “matched”, the person claimed to be a 13-year-old boy and Sutherland sent sexual messages and images.

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They arranged to meet at Glasgow’s Partick railway station, where the paedophile hunters filmed the encounter and broadcast it on social media.

The group detained Sutherland, called the police and handed over its evidence, including IIS communications with their roleplayer.

The group’s evidence was relied upon in Sutherland’s prosecution, and a trial judge dismissed his attempts to have it ruled inadmissible.

Sutherland appealed against his conviction to Scotland’s High Court of Justiciary, which granted the appellant permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court.

At a hearing in June, Gordon Jackson QC, representing Sutherland, told the court a “huge number” of cases were being prosecuted on the basis of information from “paedophile hunters”.

“The police are aware that there are a number of hunter organisations operating in Scotland and the UK and evidence submitted from these organisations has led to a number of criminal investigations and convictions,” he added.

Mr Jackson accused police and prosecutors of giving “tacit encouragement” to such groups to continue their activities.

Opposing the appeal, a barrister for Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, argued that the criminal prosecution of sexual conduct between an adult and a child ”does not engage“ someone’s rights to privacy.

“There is no right to respect for such behaviour in a democratic society,” said solicitor general Alison Di Rollo QC.

She added that it was clear that the “overriding duty” of the police was “to respond to any report of any identified person who may pose a sexual risk to children”.

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This year, the flat racing's biggest meeting, is behind closed doors due to the coronavirus outbreak PA 31/50 15 June 2020 Queues form at Primark at the Rushden Lakes shopping complex after the government relaxed coronavirus lockdown laws significantly, allowing zoos, safari parks and non-essential shops to open to visitors Getty 32/50 14 June 2020 A man kneels at a commemoration to mark the third anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire in London. The fire claimed 72 lives on 14 June 2017 PA 33/50 13 June 2020 Protesters confront police in Whitehall near Parliament Square, during a protest by the Democratic Football Lads Alliance PA 34/50 12 June 2020 A Black Lives Matter supporter sings to crowds who marched with her in front of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square in London. 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Staff have been preparing and are now ready for reopening next week with new signage, one-way trails for visitors to follow, and extra handwashing and sanitiser stations in place PA 37/50 9 June 2020 Protestors hold placards and shout slogans during during a protest called by the Rhodes Must Fall campaign calling for the removal of the statue of British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes outside Oriel College, at the University of Oxford AFP via Getty 38/50 8 June 2020 Hermione Wilson helps to install a new artwork at Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, created as a tribute to the NHS titled "A Thousand Thank Yous" originally devised by the late Allan Kaprow which consists of colourful painted messages on cardboard and has been directed remotely by London-based artist Peter Liversidge PA 39/50 7 June 2020 The Edward Colston statue has been pulled down by Black Lives Matter protesters in Bristol. 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People can meet family and friends outdoors and play sports such as golf and tennis again as the country is moving into phase one of the Scottish Government's plan for gradually lifting lockdown PA 49/50 28 May 2020 A police frogman, searches for a weapon in Abington Lake in in Northampton Getty 50/50 27 May 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears before the Liaison Committee via Zoom from the cabinet room at 10 Downing Street, amid the coronavirus 10 Downing Street/Reuters

The Supreme Court ruled that Sutherland had committed criminal offences by sending the messages, and said he also urged the decoy to delete them and then move to encrypted WhatsApp messages.

“The decoy was entitled to provide evidence to the police,” the judgment added.

“The appellant had no legitimate interest under the scheme of the ECHR to prevent the respondent from making use of that evidence in criminal proceedings against him.”

The Supreme Court said the evidence indicated that Sutherland “represented a risk” to children, and police and prosecutors were duty-bound to act.

Around 90 named “paedophile hunter” groups are thought to be active in the UK, carrying out more than 100 undercover sting operations a month.

The activity is not against the law in itself but has occasionally resulted in alleged assaults, while some people targeted have taken their own lives.

Last year, six members of the Predator Exposure group were cleared by a jury at Leeds Crown Court of charges including false imprisonment and common assault after prosecutors said they “overstepped the mark” when they confronted two men.

In 2017, David Baker, 43, took his own life days after he was confronted by the Southampton Trap group after allegedly arranging to meet a 14-year-old child in a supermarket car park.

The coroner at his inquest ruled that social media posts by the vigilante group were a “causative factor” in his suicide.

London-based criminals have used paedophile hunter-style stings to blackmail people, marching them to ATMs to extort money, and in some cases child abusers have claimed to be activists when caught with indecent images.

In June Assistant Chief Constable Dan Vajzovic, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for online child sex exploitation activist groups, said police would continue to investigate their material.

”Activist groups can produce some positive results but our overall assessment is they are more harmful than they are good,” he added.

“If they carry out activities and pass us material we will investigate and we encourage them to pass material to us at as early a stage as possible.”

Last year, the NPCC’s head of child protection accused groups of being driven by “seeking infamy through the number of hits they get, the number of likes they get, the number of people that view their livestreams”.

Chief constable Simon Bailey added: “I can’t deny they’ve led to convictions, but they’ve also led to people being blackmailed, people being subject of grievous bodily harm the wrong people being accused, people committing suicide as a result of interventions, family lives being completely destroyed, in the name of what? Facebook likes.”

In 2017, he had said forces would “potentially have to look at” working with networks of paedophile hunters.

Cybugger on July 15th, 2020 at 10:36 UTC »

OK, but what about the people whom these paedophile hunters go after but who turn out to not be paedophiles?

This is "think of the children" taken to vendetta levels of stupidity.

onemorerep on July 15th, 2020 at 10:01 UTC »

When it comes to the “interests of children” I recommend the documentary Outcry where an innocent man had his life ruined because of the prosecutors desire to convict someone.

certifiedintelligent on July 15th, 2020 at 09:47 UTC »

Careful with that line of reasoning. While I fully agree nonces deserve everything they've got coming to them, this is the same reasoning the US congress is using to try to completely ban/break encryption.