This video captures the moment a sex offender is snared by paedophile hunters – outside the Houses of Parliament.
Ashley Emery, 44, exchanged explicit messages with someone he thought was a 15-year-old girl and then arranged to meet in the centre of London.
The production manager and amateur football coach took a day off work and travelled an hour from his home in Middlesex to meet the fictional child.
But he was actually conversing with two ‘paedophile hunters’ – vigilantes who pose as children on social networking sites in a bid to catch sex predators.
They ambushed Emery when he turned up at the rendezvous point outside the Palace of Westminster.
The video was handed to police and Emery has now been convicted of attempting to meet a girl under the age of 16 following a trial at Southwark Crown Court.
He had previously admitted two counts of possessing extreme pornographic images portraying an act of oral sex with a dead or alive animal.
Chief Constable Simon Bailey, national lead for child protection at the National Police Chiefs’ Council, told the BBC this week that police may consider working with paedophile hunters.
“I’m not going to condone these groups and I would encourage them all to stop, but I recognise that I am not winning that conversation,” he added.
Vigilante evidence was used in 44 per cent of court cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2016 for the crime of meeting a child after sexual grooming, figures show.
Emery, of Staines, Middlesex, will be sentenced on 3 November.
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The paedophile hunters posted a video on social media which showed how they approached Emery as he sat on a bench outside Parliament.
He initially denies he is there to meet anyone but quickly admits he is.
Emery then asks the hunters if he can sit down because he feels dizzy.
He tells them: “What I say and what I do is two different things – all I can do is apologise. I started talking to her because I thought she was 19.”
One of the hunters says: “You are a disgusting, vile human being.”
They read him some of the messages he exchanged with the fictional child.
One said: “Hi there, how was your day?” and the hunters reply “I’ve been at school.”
Another of his messages reads: “Your profile said that you’re 19, so what are you doing now then?”
They reply: “No, I’m 15 years old.”
The footage shows Emery cradling his head in his hands saying: “This is the first time I’ve done it – I’m feeling very sorry for myself.”
One of the hunters replies: “I feel sorry for the person you’ve done this to.”
“How about all the young boys and girls that get abused by people like you?” says the other.
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