Police have issued a warning to self-styled paedophile hunters after footage emerged of a brawl erupting when a group accused a man of grooming a 14-year-old girl for sex.
Violence broke out on Easter Sunday at the Bluewater centre in Greenhithe, Kent, after a 29-year-old man was met by members of vigilante group The Hunted One.
Footage broadcast on Facebook Live showed the men approach him, saying: "You're here to meet a child for sex, yeah?"
The man, under repeated questioning by the group, denies their allegations and is then kicked and punched before the shopping centre’s security guards break up the fight.
The video has prompted a senior police officer to issue a warning to vigilante groups, telling them that their sting operations put criminal investigations in jeopardy.
Chief Superintendent Thomas Richards, head of Kent police's public protection unit, said that gathering evidence was a specialist job that took time and skill to bring an offender to justice.
He said: "We do have significant concerns about people taking the law into their own hands and the methods they use, and in some cases acting outside of the law, and would strongly advise against getting involved in, or setting up activities to entrap those suspected of intending to commit offences.
“Although seemingly well-meaning, this can significantly hinder our work, compromise ongoing investigations and negate months of investigative work."
Since the Facebook broadcast, the Hunted One has pledged to stop posting live stings and said three members of the group were leaving. It is not clear if the departures are linked to the violence.
On the group’s website, it describes itself as made up of “concerned parents” and claims to have carried out more than 50 operations in which they posed as children on social media.
Lee Harvey, 20, of Gravesend, and Joe Simpkin, 20, of Erith, were each charged with affray and released on bail. Kent police said that a 29-year-old man from east London had been arrested at Bluewater on suspicion of grooming and bailed.
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