Vigilante mums pose as under-age girls to catch paedophiles

Two mothers have set up their own paedophile hunter group targeting areas across the west country, because they don't believe the Government is doing enough.

The mums, who will only give their names as Julie and Paula, started up the dedicated team of parents to catch paedophiles and sexual predators, by posing as under-age girls online.

On film they captured themselves confronting Nathan Watson in Bristol, who thought he was meeting an 11-year-old girl. He then went on to plead guilty to 'attempting to sexually communicate with a child for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification' at Bristol crown court and will be sentenced at the end of the month.

However, are paedophile groups like Julie and Paula's right in taking the law into their own hands? Former head of Child Exploitations and Online Protection Jim Gamble believes there are risks and that vigilantes could achieve better results by working directly with authorities rather than away from them.

The Home Office issued the following statement: