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Child or Decoy

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Bettyboo65

Member since
June 2022

339 posts

Posted Fri March 31, 2023 5:47pmReport post

Hi, happy Friday, roll on the weekend!



My person's case is currently at CPS so waiting for charges I would think??

He says the "person" came to him first and when he realised the age he blocked them. Does anyone have experience of something along those lines and the outcome? This is what's making us think a decoy with them approaching him first.

Would a decoy be a more favourable outcome than an actual minor??

Thanks in advance xx

Distressed and pregnant

Member since
November 2020

1003 posts

Posted Fri March 31, 2023 6:59pmReport post

Hi,

It was the decoy (police) in my persons case who started the conversation. My person ended the chat with them several times and they kept messaging him. Obviously he shouldn't have continued the conversation and shouldn't have been on any type of chat apps in the first place but I'm sure all of us on here feel that. From some of the information on here police have a better chance of securing charges when it's an officer rather than vigilantes or indeed an actual minor. Sending love and strength xxx

RIG22

Member since
September 2022

138 posts

Posted Fri March 31, 2023 7:33pmReport post

I'm so glad for this thread.
My OH has always insisted he was contacted several times by people claiming to be minor and once they'd told him their age, he would alway tell them to go away. This one time (I think the supply of grown women on chat sites must have been short or not interested in him hence the desperate need for thrill!) he decided to speak to this one believing it was an adult pretending to be a minor (doesn't make any of it acceptable and I've hated him extremely for this since the knock). He was (so he said) approached on Chatiw and decided to continue the chat on kik. The decoy took a screen of that one conversation and here we are.
I always thought he was lying about being approached first because wouldn't that be entrapment?
As much as I hate the hell we are living through since the knock, in some ways I'm so glad it happened because it's scared the hell out of him and made him value and appreciate all he has to lose. He is a better husband now then he's been in years. A little too late but God only knows where these chat sites and all that goes with it would have taken him.

Distressed and pregnant

Member since
November 2020

1003 posts

Posted Fri March 31, 2023 7:45pmReport post

Hi Rig,

Apparently entrapment is not a defence in the UK. It's something I've struggled with tbh. My person had other conversations with either decoys or actual minors so he wouldn't have been able to contest their methods. I believe that decoys (police or vigilantes) can't lead the chat into sexual conversation but I don't know the exact wording used for that in order to have charges dropped or challenged. I had minimal contact with my person between knock and sentencing as he was on remand so the legal stuff isn't my strong point I'm afraid xxx

Distressed and pregnant

Member since
November 2020

1003 posts

Posted Fri March 31, 2023 8:39pmReport post

Thanks Lee, I had thought I'd seen something about Scotland allowing it as a defence but a quick look brought up the whole UK. I knew you'd have more knowledge on the legal side of things and was hoping you'd comment on this thread xxx

RIG22

Member since
September 2022

138 posts

Posted Fri March 31, 2023 11:56pmReport post

Hello Both. As far as I know he wasn't told who the decoy was. He was shown a screenshot during the interview but there was no mention of whether the chat was with an officer or vigilante.
OH said it was one chat on chatiw and then kik and we've not heard anything since the knock until OH emailed oic to check on travel restrictions. She just happened to mention the case had gone to cps. Can they do that? Does that mean they didn't find anything new and that's why he wasn't called back for a second interview? We have also contacted the duty solicitor since the initial interview and they've not even bothered to come back to us. Their advice to everything immediately after he was sent home was just "plead guilty" to everything.

RIG22

Member since
September 2022

138 posts

Posted Sat April 1, 2023 5:27amReport post

Thank you Lee.
On the day of the knock there was a Sargent present who repeatedly told me that if they don't find anything other than what they have then the case will likely be dropped. The day after the arrest I had a call from the oic who also repeated the same thing. All devices in the house were checked. Mine and OH's but they didn't touch my adult sons laptop or phone. They took only my husbands phone which was only 4 weeks old. I noticed they didn't check any memory sticks either. I had approx a dozen which were work related but they didn't know that. They asked me who they belonged to. I said me and they left them there. Didn't even bother to do a random check. Strangely enough though they went through all wardrobes, drawers etc but didn't bother to check the memory sticks or a hard drive we had sitting in the the living room which had downloaded movies or my sons devices. At the time I was too traumatised to think straight but later wondered why so many officers came to the house if their search was conducted so poorly. It was intimidating but not very thorough.
Maybe I'm just clutching at straws hoping they really do come back with an nfa. X

StressedWife

Member since
January 2023

47 posts

Posted Sat April 1, 2023 11:55amReport post

RIG22,

I've been thinking about this loads since the day of the knock, they definitely didn't search here properly either. my husband told them what devices he owned, they didn't take his iPad but accused him of hiding his laptop even though he told them where to find it!

They took a cursory glance at my work laptop but didn't look at mine or my daughters phone or my daughters pc. My husband is a wedding videographer so we have a server and more memory cards and hard drives than I could ever tell you, I told the police they belonged to him but they just put them back on the desk. They didn't even look round the house to see if there were any other devices they hadn't been told about.
You would have thought they'd want to do a more thorough job!

K4

Member since
October 2022

611 posts

Posted Sat April 1, 2023 2:37pmReport post

That's so interesting as we had loads of memory sticks taken and stuff which belonged to me and kids. Indeed, they still have 3 devices which belonged to the kids to which they've forgotten the passwords to and so have been sent to a different forensics team. Should I put the lawyers onto this?

K4

Member since
October 2022

611 posts

Posted Sat April 1, 2023 3:33pmReport post

Not even been arrested, still RUI...

K4

Member since
October 2022

611 posts

Posted Sat April 1, 2023 3:42pmReport post

One interview on the day (no comment with duty solicitor), 2nd interview this week, all being sent off to CPS (having found IIOC on phone). All other items were returned two months ago, all logged.

But if kids and I not under suspicion and he's not arrested, should I just ask for the other stuff back? Do they have a right to have the devices?

K4

Member since
October 2022

611 posts

Posted Sat April 1, 2023 4:10pmReport post

Lee, thank you. That's really helpful advice. I am full of resentment as to how we've been treated by the police and also think it is BS that they've sent everything to the CPS without checking all devices. Surely, either they should check all and then send or the others can't be suspicious!??

Blue Sky

Member since
February 2023

205 posts

Posted Sat April 1, 2023 4:26pmReport post

Post deleted


Edited Fri January 12, 2024 4:16pm

Seaside

Member since
July 2022

561 posts

Posted Mon April 3, 2023 9:24amReport post

We had 6 police arrive and they brought in a sniffer dog despite me begging them not to because I have a real phobia of dogs-one of them actually threatened to arrest me if I didn't comply.

I stated that I would go out of the house into the garden while the dog was there but again they wouldn't allow me to even do that .

I was called a stupid hysterical woman.

They took all our computers including a new one which my son had never had access to and also memory stick's which were only used by me.

We had to phone after sentencing to get the devices back and had no communication whatsoever from the OIC from after the arrest until sentencing.

I have PTSD following the knock and it is being triggered again by the attitude of the very unpleasant visor we have who is a bully with a god complex.

im considering putting in a formal complaint about the way I was treated.

Blue Sky

Member since
February 2023

205 posts

Posted Mon April 3, 2023 10:46amReport post

Post deleted


Edited Fri January 12, 2024 4:16pm

Rachel2022

Member since
August 2022

119 posts

Posted Mon April 3, 2023 11:56amReport post

Seaside that is just beyond awful. The more I read about the police on here the more I feel they take enjoyment from causing trauma to people. There was nodbody home when we had the knock as we were both at work the police broke our door to get in and then just left with the door not even locked. No recipes for devices taken and the trauam of them being in our home with neither one of us there. We are two years later and my husband had been charged with extreme pornography for 3 images. Best of luck to your son with the outcome of his interviews I hope he is successful.