The paedophile hunting group I’m part of has been chasing one particularly nasty individual for coming up to 2 years. I mean yeah they’re shitbags by the very nature of why they’re on our radar but this guy has been extremely clever and evasive. We rarely encounter anyone with this guy’s methods which led us to suspect he was either ex-police or has a a strong working knowledge of how hunting groups work.
Anyway his trail went cold in the autumn but reappeared a few weeks before Christmas and without giving our methods away he made a fatal mistake and inadvertently gave us all the information we needed for a very likely prosecution. He even suggested a meet which of course we attended.
I never get involved with the chat, I tried it once and it turned my stomach so I agreed to never do it it again. Instead my role is to gather enough intel to ensure we have the right person, and I’m also the “muscle” on meets in case the perp (or passers-by) decide to kick off.
Anyway the meet went ahead a few days in to January, the police (as is usually the case) were very impressed with the evidence pack and how we conducted the sting.
Fast forward to today, the police called us to say the CPS had decided to take no further action
We couldn’t believe it, we had all the usual evidence we routinely gather, even the cop who called us was at a loss for words, he was convinced this guy would have his day in court, if not spending time inside.
Doesn’t happen often but when it does it drives me nuts.