IN an exclusive interview with The Irish Post, leader of the controversial paedophile hunter group Silent Justice reveals how he tracks down and confronts some of the country's most dangerous sexual predators.
Going by the pseudonym James O' Neill, the father-of-two who lives in Co. Antrim has been carrying out sting operations to catch who they believe to be active paedophiles with the internet famous Silent Justice group since it started up in April.
But O'Neill's hunting days go back further than that.
The beginning
"I became a decoy sometime in 2016 and began setting up profiles online to engage with active paedophiles," he says.
"I knew of this type of work being done successfully in the UK, and I thought somebody needed to be carrying out this kind of work in Ireland. As a full-time father-of-two, I took on the responsibility and began passing evidence directly to the PSNI.
"Pretty quickly, I began to realise they weren't doing anything with this information. Then, I decided to go and confront these individuals myself. At the beginning, I caught six online predators within a 10-day period.
"My attitude began to change when the PSNI attempted an Article 18 at my home - which was an attempt to seize all electronic devices," he claims.
"Even one of the officers who came to my home told me that he was angry with his sergeant for ordering the seizure because I was providing them with vital information.
"That's when I realised I couldn't be a decoy anymore."
O'Neill claims the authorities are not doing enough to catch online sexual predators. (Picture: Getty Images)It was shortly after this incident that O'Neill started his own page online and came into contact with Gary Shields, founder of the Silent Justice group.
At the time of contact, the group had 40,000 followers online and were the third biggest group of its kind within the UK.
O'Neill quickly emerged as the man to bring the group forward, in his own words:
"Gary gave me the protective clothing and I ran with it."
Now, Silent Justice has amassed over a quarter of a million followers and has 24 people currently operating on their behalf across the UK and Ireland.
Both O'Neill and Shields have joint ownership of the organisation.
Since the conception of the group, they claim there have been over 80 captures with over 50 successful convictions in Britain and Ireland.
However, all hasn't been smooth sailing for the group - several news stories within the last six months reveal a backlash from both the police and the public with regard to their conduct.
In August, phones belonging to two Silent Justice members were confiscated by police during a sting in Co. Down, just two weeks after a man who had been confronted by the group took his own life.
The man's death and the backlash that followed brought into the question the legitimacy of Silent Justice and their work.
More recently, within the last few days, the Silent Justice Facebook page was removed, and all videos of the captures with it.
The group continued to post updates using a new page called Justice Reborn, before releasing the following statement vowing to return in the new year.
Coming back soon Everyone please like and share the page for updates coming in the new year.
We are here to protect the...Posted by Silent justice on Sunday, December 10, 2017"
"Everybody leaves a trail..."
O'Neill gave an insight into the process by which the group tracks down and confronts these individuals.
"Everybody leaves a trail. Because it's a sexual urge, these people always slip up because it overtakes their sensibility," he says. "They leave you some trace of information that clings you to where they're from, what they do for a living or their family.
"When this happens one of the decoys gets in touch with me and sends me some of the dialogue. Our decoys always have to be wary of entrapment laws. Because of this, our decoys state within the first couple of messages with the individual what age the child they're pretending to be is.
"For example, they will state that they are anywhere from eight years old to 14 years old. That way, the predator can't protest to the authorities that they were trapped by us.
"Ninety-nine per cent of the time, there is imagery included in the dialogue. These men tend to look for an opportunity to send graphic images of their private parts or videos of themselves performing sexual acts to children. We bring all of this material to the sting with us."
When O'Neill meets these ruthless predators, he says he looks to get inside their head and asks them why they are doing such a despicable thing.
"Sometimes there is a historical element whereby they have experienced some sort of abuse themselves in the past. In the end, however, it's a sexual orientation and they cannot help it. That never changes between all of them," he says.
When you watch some of the confrontation videos on the Silent Justice Facebook page, it's difficult not to feel nauseous hearing O'Neill and his fellow hunters recount the disgusting things that the individual has sent to what they believe is a child.
The most stomach-turning case
"There was a man who was particularly dangerous. I confronted him," Mr O' Neill says. "This man was one of the most sophisticated online groomers in the UK and Ireland.
"I remember thinking to myself that this man is a repeat offender. The man was clearly a danger to our children.
"I then spoke to one of the girls who had been a victim and she claimed that he raped her when she was just eight years old.
"When you hear things like that and you talk to the lady and you make her feel secure enough to go to the police and make a statement towards the individual, you expect the same conduct to come from the authorities.
"The girl was on her way into the police station to tell her story to the authorities and at the same time, this individual had just been released from jail walked past her outside the police station. I couldn't believe it.
"I immediately phoned the police and asked, 'what the hell are you guys thinking releasing this man pending an investigation? Exactly what more of an investigation do you need? I have given you lock tight evidence and five individuals have come forward. What else do I need to do?”
This, he claims, was the peak of his frustration with the PSNI. Since expanding his operations south of the border, he has become even more incensed.
"To put it in school terms, the PSNI are in primary school, and the garda are nursery," he says.
He claims one garda detective at the house of a paedophile during a recent sting turned to him and whispered: “What you’re doing here is illegal”.
To which O'Neill says he replied: "'If it’s illegal, why am I not sitting in the back of that fancy police car behind you?'
"I’m not there for the police, I am simply there to destroy these men’s lives. If they want to destroy a child’s [life], I’ll destroy theirs. Do I take pleasure out of it? You better believe it.”
O'Neill claims gardaí were accusing his team of going into neighbors' houses inciting hate. When asked why he thought the authorities were making his work difficult, he says: “We’re doing the job that they can’t do.
"You cut me open I bleed green, white and orange. I’m an Irishman through and through and I’m very passionate about my island.
"But, the way the gardaí are carrying on, and I never thought I’d say this, it makes me ashamed to be Irish.”
When contacted by The Irish Post gardaí refused to comment on the claims made by O' Neill or on any third party statements.
The Irish Post also contacted the PSNI.
Detective Chief Inspector David McBurney from the PSNI’s Public Protection Branch, said:
“It is the role of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to deal with those allegedly involved in this type of crime, not others.
"We are the professionals with the expert knowledge and experience to carry out rigorous investigations to the required evidential standard. We are the legitimate police service and we are accountable. These groups are not. They do not have the transparency or the structures which underpin the police service and could potentially undermine ongoing police investigations.
“To date, no prosecutions have been secured in Northern Ireland using evidence passed to PSNI from a vigilante group. Three files have been submitted to the PPS, however, all await further evidential reports before a decision can be taken as to whether the test for prosecution is met.
“The PSNI is committed to tackling this issue and work closely with our partner agencies when carrying out investigations to assess the risk a potential offender may pose and to safeguard any children at potential risk.
“Those involved in this type of vigilante behavior aren’t in a position to ensure safeguarding issues are addressed and their actions could have a detrimental impact on the criminal justice process.
“If these groups are motivated to help safeguard children, they need to bring any information they have about the identity of any person engaged in sexual offenses against children to the PSNI immediately.
"These groups should not make arrangements to meet these individuals but should bring the information straight to the police. We will take all the necessary steps required to ensure a thorough investigation is carried out including gathering best possible evidence to enable effective investigations that produce a charge and successful prosecution.”
So just how prolific are these sexual predators online?
According to O'Neill, these individuals are using the exact same applications that the majority of us use every day.
Facebook, Tinder, Grinder, and the most popular one in Ireland, Meet4You, are all apps that have been adopted by these sick individuals for their sinister exploits.
"If you go online and download an app called meet4u you will find active right now a middle-aged man operating on the same account he was snared by me on just last week.
"He’s still on there and he initiated two days ago a conversation with one of the decoys again. The police didn’t even arrest the man that night, they said they came in voluntarily.
"This is what I'm dealing with. I'm not even getting arrests below the border, the gardaí aren’t even arresting these men.
"It would honestly take me to go to the Irish Government and try to get some legislation put into the policing terms to deal with things differently and get tougher sentencing.
"That’s not gonna happen. I don’t think it’ll ever happen.”
The Silent Justice Facebook cover photo. (Picture: Facebook)Despite the obstacles O'Neill says are placed in his way, he believes the work of the Silent Justice group will not be disrupted anytime soon.
"They can never ever stop what I do because I am not breaking the law. That’s what is frustrating the authorities. Unless they start acting accordingly, which they won’t, then they’ll continue to look like fools.
"The Republic of Ireland is unbelievably rife with these sick individuals scoping for a new venture online each and every day.
"I said to one person the other day, I can sit you down in front of my laptop, go make a cup of tea and by the time I come back with the tea you’ll have the choice of between 70 to 140 pedophiles to choose from.
“I will never ever win this war. Paedophilia is a sexual orientation. You’re never ever going to defeat it. The only result for it is death. There is no rehabilitation."
The future of Silent Justice
"My mission is to strike fear into these individuals. They are not afraid of the police or the slap on the wrist. The only thing these men are afraid of is the light of the camera shining on their face. They are petrified of it".
O'Neill recalls a particular case he says exemplifies the fear being instilled by pedophiles by groups like Silent Justice, who expose these people for everybody to see on the internet.
“We had a man who couldn't wait for the police to show up. He actually ran to the squad car when it arrived and I had to try and tell him to stay still.
"He could not wait to get into the squad car he was that terrified of the camera being in his face. I couldn't help but ask myself, who runs to a police car?”
When questioned on the challenges of the work going forward, and the scale of the online sexual predator community, O'Neill's optimism is unwavering.
"Look, I know I won’t capture every single one of them but I can create a domino effect of that fear. I can make those individuals think “Oh shit, I can’t talk to children online anymore because I might be caught by this hunting group and my life might be destroyed.
"I had a police officer say to me the other week 'So James you’re saying you’re the judge, jury, and executioner? I said you better believe it.
"It’s not an arrogance thing. I’m very passionate about what I do and I’m very black and white. Some people might think I’m, an asshole, but they either follow me for that reason or they don’t.
"Recently it’s trying to get awareness down south because it’s badly needed there at the moment. The social media following and videos have had a huge effect on that. Helping to nourish that fear."
