Paedophile hunters who humiliated man by accusing him of rape jailed

Paedophile hunters who ‘humiliated’ an innocent father on a live stream ‘sting’ video after forcing him to the ground and wrongly accusing him of rape become first in the UK to be jailed for their vigilantism

• Sam Miller and James Moss filmed a 14-minute live stream of an innocent man 
• They became the first ‘paedophile hunters’ to be handed jail sentences today 

Two paedophile hunters who humiliated an innocent father during a live stream ‘sting’ have become the first in the UK to receive prison sentences for their vigilante activities after they falsely accused him of being a convicted rapist.

Sam Miller and James Moss’s target was forced to the ground, had a light shone in his eyes, was accused of exchanging sexual messages with a child, and publicly ‘berated and humiliated’ during a 14-minute live stream video. 

Newcastle Crown Court heard Miller and Moss were part of the paedophile hunter group Child Online Safety Team, whose videos can attract over 1,000 viewers, and wrongly accused the man they confronted that day of being a convicted rapist. 

The judge told Miller: ‘You have an inflated sense of your own importance and you overestimate your level or expertise in legal knowledge.’

Prosecutor Gavin Doig said the live streaming of the ‘sting’ showed the groups’ motivation was ‘publicity and grandstanding, not the detection of offenders’ as he jailed the ringleader for nine months.

Sam Miller was jailed for nine months and told by the judge that he has an ‘inflated sense of his own importance’

James Moss (pictured) played a security role in the operation and was handed a suspended sentence and curfew

He added: ‘The live streaming and telling him it was being viewed by a large number of people increased the impact and the trauma suffered.’ 

The court heard after the group called the police to the scene the man was questioned and held in custody for 17 hours before he was released without charge. 

He was left with suicidal thoughts and wore a scarf or mask in public out of fear he would be recognised. 

He told police: ‘Fair enough if I was convicted and jailed but innocent until proven guilty, not in their eyes, you are guilty full stop.’ 

Miller, 29, of Stanley, County Durham and Moss, 58, of Blyth, Northumberland, were convicted of false imprisonment after a trial, where they insisted their activities were to protect the public. 

At Newcastle Crown Court today Miller, who set up COST in 2018, was jailed for nine months. 

Moss, who had a ‘security’ role in the vigilante organisation, was given six months but his jail term was suspended for 18 months, with a three month curfew requirement.

Judge Julie Clemitson told Miller: ‘You took the law into your own hands and you exceeded any lawful authority you had to conduct a citizen’s arrest. 

‘I am sure you don’t recognise yourself as an ordinary member of the public, you have an inflated sense of your own importance and you overestimate your level or expertise in legal knowledge.’ 

Judge Clemitson said Miller has been assessed as having an ‘unhealthy obsession with sex offenders’ and the desire to punish them. 

The judge told the men: ‘Society as a whole demands everyone, however awful the crime they are suspected of committing, be treated fairly, otherwise where is the line to be drawn?’ 

Judge Clemitson said the offending ‘requires a sentence which will deter others from taking the law into their own hands and impose punishment on those they deem to be guilty of criminal offences’. 

The judge said the vigilantes were not motivated solely to help the police track down potential peadophiles and told them: ‘You were motivated by desire to punish those you suspected of paedophilia. 

‘You determined who was guilty and set out to publicly expose them.’ 

Judge Clemitson said public confrontation live streamed on the internet is a ‘spectacle’ which creates risk of public disorder and personal harm. 

The judge said rather than working in co-operation with the police, the group sought ‘glory’ of catching people themselves and added that the victim in this case was caused ‘humiliation and distress’. 

Judge Clemitson added: ‘I accept you both genuinely believed he was an online sex offender but having come to that view you were not prepared to give him fair hearing and set about your own form of punishment by way of this very humiliating and public spectacle.’ 

Miller arriving at Newcastle Crown Court today where his sentencing was adjourned 

Mr Doig told the court during the trial the group was more concerned about ‘Facebook likes’ than upholding the law.

He said they tracked down and detained internet users because they cared ‘about notoriety, about bullying others and about acting as pretend policemen’.

He said ‘amateur groups’ have sprung up across the country and started hunting for internet offenders, without the proper technology or training the police have. 

The groups pose as children online and set up sting operations to catch predators. 

Mr Doig said some groups are well intentioned, whereas others are less so and added: ‘The prosecution case is the amateurs in this case cared as much, if not more, for self publicity, about notoriety, about bullying others, about acting as pretend policemen as they did about stopping online offending.’ 

The court heard it was on February 6 2020 Miller approached the police and told them an internet user, who he wrongly claimed was a convicted rapist, had communicated with a decoy profile he was running. 

The court heard Miller told police the man had not committed an offence during the online conversation but went to his house that night regardless. 

Mr Doig said: ‘At 9.15pm Mr Miller called the police and told them not only had he decided to detain the man, he had already done it. 

The defendant Moss was with Miller at that time. ‘They didn’t take time to call the police before they acted but made time to live stream the events on Facebook, so we can see some of what went on. 

‘The man said he was forced to the ground and held there and had a torch shone in his eyes while being questioned. Only after this process was Miller to call the police.’ 

The court heard the man was interviewed by the police but it was determined he had not committed any crime. 

Miller has previous convictions for impersonating a police officer, violent disorder and witness intimidation. 

Moss has never been in trouble before. 

Mr Doig said Miller appeared to be the ‘self-appointed leader’ of the Child Online Safety team and received a letter from North Yorkshire Police in April 2020. 

This advised him to cease his activities as inviting potential paedophiles to public places created a risk, could hinder police investigations and result in him falling foul of the law himself, but he appeared to ignore the correspondence. 

Gordon Carse, defending Miller, who handed in character references, said: ‘He believed what he did was right.’ 

Mr Carse said Miller, who has family responsibilities, is no longer part of COST and added: ‘He has stepped back from it and there are no plans to go back into it. 

‘Prison will punish him but is unlikely to address the underlying causes of his offending.’ 

Peter Eguae, defending Moss, told the court: ‘To act outside the protection of the law certainly was not his intention. 

‘He will not be a vigilante again. He has learned a sad, long and valuable lesson.’ 

Mr Eguae said Moss is described in his character references as a ‘gentle giant’. 

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