Incidents paedophile hunters - 606/18

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 200 to request the following information about so-called Paedophile Hunters. 

This request is for the time period starting from January 2015 up until the most recent date you hold records to. 

I would like to know the following:

1.  Please provide the number of crimes which full under the following offence codes which contains one or more of the following terms – Dark Justice, Guardians of the North, Silent Justice, Stinson Hunter, Predator Exposure:  This request is for the time period starting from January 2015 up until the most recent date you hold records to.

Offences in relation to:

• 18 or over attempt to cause / incite a girl 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity - no penetration
• Attempt to cause / incite a boy 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity - offender 18 or over - penetration
• Attempt to cause / incite a boy aged 13 to 15 to engage in a penetrative sexual activity - offender aged under 18
• Attempt to cause / incite a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity - no penetration
• Attempt to cause / incite a female child aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity - no penetration
• Attempt to cause / incite a female child under 13 to engage in sexual activity - offender 18 or over - penetration
• Attempt to cause / incite a girl 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity - offender 18 or over - penetration
• Attempt to cause / incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in a penetrative sexual activity - offender aged under 18
• Offender 18 or over attempt to cause / incite a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity - no penetration
• Offender under 18 attempt to cause / incite a girl 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity - no penetration
• Cause a child aged 13 to 15 to watch / look at an image of sexual activity - offender 18 or over
• Offender 18 or over attempt to cause a child aged 13 to 15 to watch / look at an image of sexual activity
• Offender 18 or over cause a child under 13 to watch / look at an image of sexual activity
• Adult attempt to meet a boy under 16 years of age following grooming
• Adult attempt to meet a girl under 16 years of age following grooming 

1. Please provide the outcome of the crimes from question 1, for example; charge/summons, caution, evidential difficulties etc.

We contacted you to explain that we could not provide conviction data and that question has now been omitted.  We also explained that based on your original questions, we would not be able to provide the information you required when asking for incidents.  We suggested alternative questions that we may be able to provide information for, and you said ‘please  provide info as set out in  your email’.  Therefore, the above is now your FOI request. 

In Response:

We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention. 

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Corporate Development Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by Northumbria Police. 

I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows. 

Data was collated through a search of all crimes created between 01/01/2015 - 20/06/2018 where the MO contained one or more of keywords supplied in your request; 

These returns were then filtered for the below HO Codes: 

021/15                  Causing or inciting a male child under 13 to engage in sexual activity - offender under 18 - penetration

021/21                  Causing or inciting a male child under 13 to engage in sexual activity - offender 18 or over - no penetration

021/05                  Causing or inciting a male child under 13 to engage in sexual activity male child - penetration

021/21                  Causing or inciting a male child under 13 to engage in sexual activity - offender 18 or over - no penetration

022/09                  Causing or inciting a male child under 16 to engage in sexual activity - offender 18 or over - penetration

022/15                  Causing or inciting a male child under 16 to engage in sexual activity - offender under 18 - penetration

021/24                  Causing or inciting a female child under 13 to engage in sexual activity - offender under 18 - no penetration

021/20                  Causing or inciting a female child under 13 to engage in sexual activity - offender 18 or over - no penetration

021/08                  Causing a child under 13 to watch a sexual act û offender under 18

022/20                  Causing or inciting a female child under 16 to engage in sexual activity - offender 18 or over - no penetration

022/08                  Causing or inciting a female child under 16 to engage in sexual activity - offender 18 or over - penetration

022/14                  Causing or inciting a female child under 16 to engage in sexual activity - offender under 18 - penetration

022/24                  Causing or inciting a female child under 16 to engage in sexual activity - offender under 18 - no penetration

022/11                  Causing a child under 16 to watch a sexual act - offender 18 or over

021/11                  Causing a child under 13 to watch a sexual act û offender 18 or over

088/01                  Meeting a female child following sexual grooming etc. - offender 18 or over and victim under 16 (including attempts)

088/02                  Meeting a male child following sexual grooming etc. - offender 18 or over and victim under 16 (including attempts) 

The results of those searches is as attached. 

If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would expect that you to take into consideration the factors highlighted above so as not to mislead members of the public or official bodies or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material. It should also be noted that whilst the words may appear in the MO, this is not necessarily an indication that such a group played any part in the apprehension of an offender.