To catch a predator

Published: Monday, 7 January 2008, 11:34AM

Child protection expert Mark Williams-Thomas reveals a shocking sting operation on a man who believes he is targeting a 12-year-old British schoolgirl.

Martin has been chatting with 12-year-old Rebecca for several months on the internet.

He has asked the young schoolgirl from Wales to send him her bra and said he would like to meet up with her to kiss and hold her hand. He has also sent her photos of nude girls.

But what the man doesn’t know is that Rebecca is actually an adult researcher, using software to identify predators surfing the internet and that ITV1’s Tonight team are on his trail.

In To Catch a Predator, to air on Monday 7 January at 8pm on ITV1, Tonight’s Mark Williams-Thomas reports on what every parent should know to protect their children in chat rooms.

A recent survey found that more than half of young people have suffered an unwanted experience in a chatroom including sexual abuse and bullying. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, the government law enforcement agency devoted to online child protection, receives up to 500 incident reports a month, and about half are linked to grooming.

In response to this threat, entrepreneur Adam Hildreth set up Crisp Thinking last year, a UK-based online child protection company which has developed the Anti-Grooming Engine. He claims that the software is highly effective in identifying adults online with a sexual motivation.

The software is designed to look out for conversation patterns, typing speed, use of grammar and punctuation, and any aggressive or bullying language. It compares extracts from online conversations between young people to online conversations of suspected groomers to pinpoint the subtlest of differences.

Tonight looks at the software in action and in a dramatic showdown in an internet café confronts the paedophile.

To report suspicious behaviour online with or towards a child contact the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre report page:
www.ceop.gov.uk/(S(igxkrx45ufxztu3q0mtomrbf))/ceop_report.aspx

(Leeds company that have developed the software)
www.protectingeachother.com

(ceop’s website aimed at kids)
www.thinkuknow.co.uk

(ceop’s website)
www.ceop.gov.uk

(website giving advice on abuse online)
www.stopitnow.org.uk

(children’s charity)
www.nch.org.uk

(to catch a predator website)
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10912603/