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| Phill Hoban of Predator Exposure |
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8368397/paedophile-hunter-bbc-documentary-arrested-gun-cops/
HUNTER HUNTED Paedophile hunter who starred in BBC documentary arrested by gun cops ‘over vigilante raid’
Officers swooped on Phill Hoban, 43, and other members of paedo hunters, Predator Exposure
EXCLUSIVE
By Paul Sims and Sun Staff
6th February 2019, 4:11 pmUpdated: 6th February 2019, 4:11 pm
A PAEDOPHILE hunter who appeared on a BBC documentary spoke of his fury yesterday after gun cops arrested him in a dawn raid.
Officers swooped on Phill Hoban, 43, and other members of Predator Exposure over claims of false imprisonment, assault and public order offences.
It is alleged they acted unlawfully when they detained two suspected paedos after separate online stings in August and January.
Armed police dragged members of the Leeds-based group from their homes before quizzing them for six hours on Monday.
Dad-of-five Phill, 43, who featured last month on BBC3 documentary ‘Paedophile Hunters: The Rise Of The Vigilantes’, slammed the arrests.
He said the move was designed to shut the group down - despite it being responsible for bringing more than 70 child sex offenders to justice.
Fuming Phill said: "I was immediately grabbed straight away and arrested and handcuffed behind my back in front of my family, they wouldn’t even let me put my bike away.
"There were armed police and police with tasers to arrest me on historic assault and false imprisonment allegations. It was heavy handed."
He said officers seized his mobile phone, his kids’ iPads, clothing, including his coat and trainers and took him to the cells at Wakefield Police Station.
The police are not interested in justice. Our arrests are a tactic to try and make us stop exposing paedophiles.
Phil Hoban
He and his team have since been released on bail.
Predator Exposure record and live stream all their vigilante stings, in which they confront a suspected paedophile engaging in online sex chat with a decoy.
The group make a citizens arrest and phone the police to arrest and take the suspects away.
Phill claims the two incidents he was questioned about and followed the same method all their 70 plus stings have done.
He added: "The police are not interested in justice. Our arrests are a tactic to try and make us stop exposing paedophiles.
"I was handcuffed behind my back by armed police. I would have attended a police station voluntarily and they know that.
"The have arrested us now because we are the biggest group in the country with the biggest following and they want to get the message out to other groups to stop.
"But the police are not doing enough to catch the paedophiles themselves.
"And yet they have enough resources to send eight police officers to five homes to arrest innocent members of the public."
COURT DATE
Phill and his colleagues have been bailed to Friday, when they may learn whether they will be charged.
A defiant a Phill said: "If they take us to court, they take us to court, but there will be uproar because we have many supporters and we have taken 70 odd paedophiles off the streets and protected hundreds of kids."
The police spokeswoman said: "The arrests were made in relation to alleged offences in the Wakefield area on August 11, 2018 and Leeds on January 13, 2019 in which members of the public were allegedly detained.
"Three men and two women were arrested. They have since all been released on bail. Enquiries are ongoing."
The paedophile hunting group have been responsible for bringing a number of offenders to justice through online stings in the past year.
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