Man confronted in Athboy over child grooming allegations

Gardai were called to the scene of an incident in Athboy last night when a man was confronted by members of  'Child Protection Awareness' which looks to expose paedophiles by posing as young children online.

The man who was stopped was confronted by members of the group led by 'hunter' Louise with the incident relayed via a live Facebook broadcast which has been viewed almost 180,000 times in just 12 hours. It was alleged that the man who said he was 61-years old was there to meet  two young girls, one of whom he had messaged in online chatrooms.  

In the 74-minute video the man appeared to admit engaging in sexually explicit conversations with a 14-year old girl - but the '14-year-old girl' was, in fact, a decoy used by the Child Protection Awareness team.

The confrontation, where chatlogs he's said to have been involved in and containing explicit sexual conversation were read to him before gardai arrived on the scene when the live feed was turned off.

The work of so-called 'Paedophile Hunter'  groups who engage with people suspected of grooming underage girls online was put under the spotlight earlier this year when RTE producer Kieran Creavan (55), was filmed in Leeds where he had travelled to meet up with a 13-year-old girl with whom he had made contact with online. Instead he was met by members of the Predator Exposure group. He was jailed for 18 months in March. 

Last January Navan Gardai investigated an incident when a McDonald's restaurant employee was confronted by members of the same 'Child Protection Awareness' group which looks to expose paedophiles by posing as young children online.

Asked about the incident a Garda spokesperson told the Meath Chronicle "An Garda Siochána does not comment on or discuss speculation about the activities of such groups operating in this jurisdiction. 
"It is An Garda Síochána's primary role to investigate crime and enforce enacted legislation. An Garda Síochána would urge anyone with information relating to the potential sexual exploitation of children to report it immediately to An Garda Síochána where it will be investigated by professional investigators.