County Durham 'vigilante' paedophile hunter falsely accused man of rape
A "vigilante" paedophile hunter who live streamed footage humiliating a father and also falsely accused him of rape has been jailed.
Sam Miller, 29, was part of an amateur group called the Child Online Safety Team (COST), along with James Moss, 58.
The pair, who were convicted of false imprisonment after a trial, had forced their target to the ground, shone a light in his eyes, accused him of having sex chat with a child and publicly "berated and humiliated" him during a 14-minute live stream video.
Miller, from County Durham, who covered his own face in a black hooded coat and black face mask as he arrived at Newcastle Crown Court, was jailed for nine months. He is thought to be the first person from a paedophile hunter group to be imprisoned for vigilante activities.
James Moss, of Laburnum Avenue, Blyth, Northumberland, was given a suspended sentence for what the judge described as a "lesser role" in the offence.
The pair, who wrongly believed the man was a convicted rapist, had said their activities were to protect the public.
Judge Julie Clemitson told Miller he had an inflated sense of his own importance citing previous convictions for impersonating a police officer.
She said Miller had been assessed as having an "unhealthy obsession" with sex offenders and the desire to punish them.
She added publication live streamed on the internet is a "spectacle" which creates a risk of public disorder and personal harm and accused the group of seeking "glory" in catching people themselves.
Gordon Carse, defending Miller, said he believed what he was doing was right and added he had since stepped back from it.
Peter Eguae, defending Moss, said: "He will not be a vigilante again. He has learned a sad, long and valuable lesson."
Detective Sergeant Simon Wardle, of Northumbria Police, said: “Keeping the vulnerable safe and tackling online child sexual abuse and exploitation is a priority for us and we are absolutely committed to protecting people from harm and bringing offenders to justice.
“This includes specially-trained officers within our Paedophile Online Investigation Team working tirelessly to identify those targeting young people.
“While we recognise some child online activist groups are motivated by the desire to protect children, Sam Miller and James Moss had ulterior motives and set out to cause harm.
“It is essential that the correct procedures are followed around the gathering of evidence, questioning of suspects and safeguarding of any potential victims and the actions of Miller and his associate was completely unacceptable as they wrongly accused a man of rape and live streamed his illegal detention to their followers.
“This behaviour will not be tolerated and we cannot have people taking the law in to their own hands, for whatever reason.
“Such actions can undoubtedly reduce the prospect of successful prosecutions and can actually harm live, ongoing, evidence led police investigations.
“We would encourage anyone who has any information about child sexual exploitation to come forward and share this with the police so we can take action.”
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