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A MAN WHO was caught trying to communicate with a child for sexual exploitation by a vigilante “sting” operation has been jailed for six months.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Paul Fanning (59) asked for sexually explicit images from dating website profiles he believed belonged to two teenage girls. The accounts were decoys set up by a group called Emerald Hunters Ireland in order to find potential paedophiles, the court heard.
Fanning initiated contact with the accounts and in both cases the communication became graphically sexual in nature fairly quickly, Detective Garda David Ganley testified.
On 10 February last year, Fanning asked “Ali”, whose profile stated she was 13 years old, to meet up and go for pizza.
He also suggested she could go back to his place and “have some hot sexy fun with me?”. An arrangement was made to meet the following afternoon in Merrion Square park.
When Fanning went there he was confronted by members of the vigilante group who recognised him from his online profile photograph. He admitted he was in the park to meet the child and this confrontation was broadcast live on Facebook.
The group contacted gardaí and said they were detaining a “paedophile”. The detectives who arrived at the scene were given print outs of telephone text and social media conversations between Fanning and the fake profiles.
Fanning denied his intention was to have sex with “Ali” but admitted he believed the accounts were for underage girls.
Fanning, formerly of Holles Row, Dublin city, pleaded guilty to attempting to communicate with a child for purposes of facilitating sexual exploitation of a child on dates between 30 January and 11 February 2018.
Judge Pauline Codd said that the courts must condemn the type of predatory behaviour and children must be protected.
She noted that loneliness led Fanning to go online at the time while he was recuperating from a heart attack. A psychological assessment places him at a moderate to low risk of re-offending.
Judge Codd said a Probation Service officer had accepted his expressions of remorse and shame as genuine and noted he now acknowledged the distress and harm his behaviour could cause to children.
The judge imposed a two and half year sentence but suspended two years of this on condition that Fanning undergo appropriate therapy.
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Oisin Clarke BL, defending, said the type of group who set up this sting were more prevalent in the UK where they had been the cause of some concern to investigating authorities.
He said his client’s name and address were published online by the group and his house was subsequently attacked. His car was damaged and he was threatened.
He has moved out of the home he lived in for four decades and lost his job after 18 years of employment. He said his client had been remorseful from the very beginning and had lost everything.
He said that a psychological assessment stated Fanning was not predatory in behaviour and was unlikely to specifically seek out children. The Badoo dating website used in the sting is a dating website for adults.
Additional evidence
Detective Garda Ganley told Judge Codd that the Emerald Hunters Ireland group used adult women to set up fake profiles on dating websites for girls under the age of 16. He said the group had strict rules of engagement where the profile must state clearly the age and must state they are on the site to meet friends.
He said the “decoys” do not instigate any chats of a sexual nature. The first decoy profile in this case was set up on Badoo in January 2018 and “Holly” claimed to be for a 14 year old girl. Soon after it was set up Fanning began to text to it.
His profile had his photograph, age and a list of hobbies. Detective Garda Hanley said that reasonably quickly the chats became very sexual in nature with explicit graphical sexual references.
He said that Fanning had made the first contact and later invited the “girl” to send him sexual photographs and made sexual suggestions.
The second decoy, named “Ali”, was set up in February and Fanning again made contact and sent requests for sexually explicit images before asking to meet up.
Clarke asked the court to take into consideration his client’s pro-social history and to view this offending as an anomaly.
He said his client deeply regretted his behaviour. He had worked since the age of 14 and provided for his family.
Fanning had a heart attack in September 2017 and was recuperating from this at the time.
Judge Codd said that it was important to state that gardaí were the sole persons with the right to investigate this type of offending. She said there were issues around legality of arrest and fundamental processes around prosecution.
She said that Fanning could have challenged the charges against him as there were complex issues given the fact that no actual child was present at any point in the offending.
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I’ve no time for paedophiles and they deserve the full wrath of the law. However these vigilante groups are not helpful. They can cause cases to collapse and guys like this to go underground. Considering the damage they caused in this case Im surprised the charges stuck possibly more to do with the fact he was remorseful and did not take charges against them. The recent case of an intellectualily disabled man was apprehended by vigilantes was particularly appalling. These guys are down there with Jeremy Kyleand the other gutter trash. Let the professionals do their jobs.
@LittleBee: And if it were your 13 year old daughter saved by this hunter group from being raped, would you care whether the bloke was intellectually disabled or not??
@LittleBee: These vigilante groups are all about their own self-gratification – everything done for Facebook likes!! If they genuinely wanted these Child Predators off the streets they’d be straight down to a Garda Station with what evidence they’ve obtained and help build a strong case against them!! But no, there’s no glory in that!! Time after time they’re being told to stop with the manner in which they go about exposing these predators but they keep doing it regardless! One of these days it’ll end in tragedy!
@The Risen: I would very much care if someone who tried or indeed did abuse any of my son’s or daughters walked free and without prosecution to strike again because some ar$ehole with a god complex thinks that they know better then the law. I also know that it is extremely difficult to get a prosecution of child abuse to even get to court even when there is a child statement and cases fall apart all the time. So if it was my son or daughter I would much rather all evidence was collecting appropriately to ensure the best possible chance of conviction. And the Guy with the disability had the mental capacity of a 14 year old and was looking for company and a friend and went online without his carers knowledge who had previously being monitoring him while he was looking for a friend to chat with. Absolutely no intentions of abuse and was in fact abused himself by these vigilantes. So if I had an intellectualily disabled relative I would also have concerns for their safety against predators like these.
@LittleBee: I hate the term “paedophile” It somehow infers a type of normality or even a kind of respectability as in referring to somebody as an alcoholic or an asthmatic. They should be called exactly what they are—-Child abusers!
@John Mc Donagh: really? I find that most peculiar as to me paedophile is a far far more deogority word as when someone is called it there is no mistake to what they are. Child abuser however is more of a spectrum of physical, emotional, sexual, predatory etc. there are varying levels and types of child abuse that get lumped under this one term and not all are sexual. I certainly dont think anybody thinks of respectability or normality when they hear the word paedophile.
@The Risen: You are hitting the point here, but not in the way you think. Victims or relatives don’t get a say, as they cannot be disinterested. The courts, at least in theory, can. Empathy is for the sentence, not the jury.
@Angela Lavin: never said that. He had no intent and unfortunately didn’t have his adult supervision to advise him that it’s not suitable to meet up with people. Yes you could argue that without the vigilante groups they would not have caught the guy in the article. But do you know the Garda have specific teams for this do you know how many cases of sexual abuse don’t even get to court because of how the evidence is collected ? Lots . So yes this one case may have got to court but at the peril of how many? If these guys have information then pass it to the cops. But you know who commits the most sexual abuse…family members or those known to the family. So educate your children be vigilant and if you have concerns contact the experts not Mick down the pub
@Angela Lavin: look it doesn’t matter what mine or your opinion is on vigilantes . The judge said it…the Garda are the only ones with the right to investigate these crimes and these cases present problems with legality and prosecution
So perhaps this guy would have got longer had it been an official string handled by the professionals.
Some typically pig ignorant comments above. The groups are meticulous in making sure they have the right individual, and also protect them until the police arrive. Watch some of the sting videos before commenting lads.
@The Risen: Wasn’t there a case of mistaken identity in Kildare, he had to hide in a pub? Wasn’t there a vigilante group in England led by a violent sex predator? What about the mistaken identity of a guy with Autism? What if he was your child, as you asked a previous poster? Would you still be all praise for their meticulous planning?
@The Risen: they have no legal standing, they have no legal training, and, crucially, they have no legal oversight. No one is right 100% of the time. What about when they get the wrong guy? You think they’ll pay compensation? Do they report to an ombudsman?
@The Risen: typically illogical comment from a typically illogical Gemma O’ Doherty fanatic. Look at the mess they made in Ballyfermot when they gleefully informed the gathered mob that the guy was a sexual predator, leading to an assault. Leave it to the professionals.
@Peter Denham: and that lad in ballyfermot wasn’t the full shilling,I saw the video and they inflamed the situation and then came across as the peace makers trying to protect him, to justify their actions
@The Risen: eh except they’re not though because if that was the case the cops would be saying “eh up this is great stuff keep it coming lads”
but their not, they are actually saying “While we appreciate your good intentions please stop because you are screwing up our case and we may not get to court now plus you have alerted a potential suspect., so please in future if you have information please pass it on to us so we can collect the evidence correctly to ensure a conviction ” in a nutshell.
@LittleBee: If they had not had the information presented to them, would the Gardai have even known about this guy? I saw another man being caught at GPO, on Facebook, going to meet another underage girl in Henry Street. The internet is the place they operate from and if you can stop even one paedophile logging on to these sites for fear of who’s at the other end, that’s good enough for me.
@VMKilshaw: OMG that’s my point…F-ing facebook do you think there is a strong case for conviction if someone’s face is all over facebook. What about mistaken identify collapsed cases poor collection of evidence , corrosion the list goes on. Sure if you have information then pass it to the Garda and tusla who have a specialist team for it. Because for every one child you think you have saved you may have set 3 more abusers free or underground but if that’s good enough for you mate then that’s a bit warped butbwhatever rocks your boat. These guys are all about their own self importance and nothing else.
I don’t understand his defence at all. “was unlikely to specifically seek out children.”
He did seek out children. For a specifically sexual purpose. He did this, he did seek out children, and twice. How can this not be perjury? Having said that, there are loads of men by the same name and I hope people don’t cause trouble for innocent people.
I’m not sure it’s normal for a male adult to pretend they are a 13 year old girl ….. are they failed security guards or what …… most of them probably have criminal records……. play golf get a hobby
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