BRADFORD MAN CONFRONTED BY PAEDOPHILE HUNTER VIGILANTES
A Bradford man was “named and shamed” by a paedophile hunter group after making contact online with a decoy profile that he believed was a 14-year-old girl.Bradford Crown Court heard how 54-year-old Fazal Subhan lied about his age, claiming he was both 37 and 41, in a string of messages before arranging to meet the girl in Stockport for sex.
When he arrived on May 27, 2023, he was confronted by members of the Elusive Group, a voluntary organisation that operates decoy profiles on social media to identify people who communicate in a sexual manner with children.
Police received a 999 call saying Subhan had been detained by the group.
Speaking in court Mr Recorder Alistair MacDonald KC said: “Police described members of the group … as behaving aggressively towards you, so much so that they were fearful for your safety.” On May 1, 2023, Subhan, using a profile named Shah, messaged the girl and began a series of conversations that became sexual, and asked to meet her to have sex.
They planned to meet on May 21, but the liaison was postponed.
During his messages Subhan said he wanted to film the two of them having sex and, said Recorder MacDonald, made other “disgusting suggestions”.
He told her to delete the messages.
On May 25 he sent her a photograph of his erect penis and had a “sexual discussion” the following day.
On May 27 Subhan went to meet the girl at Diamond Jubilee Park in Stockport, where he was detained.
Subhan’s mobile phones were seized and analysed and evidence of his activities was uncovered.
In an interview Subhan, of Sunningdale, Bradford, said he was not guilty as he knew it was a decoy profile.
He was interviewed a second time following a forensic download of his phones and gave “no comment” answers.
That was rejected by a jury and Subhan was convicted after a trial of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child under 16, and attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.
The court heard that Subhan had 15 previous convictions for 34 offences but that none were for related matters.
Mitigating, Shahid Rashid said videos of Subhan being confronted by and shouted at by the vigilante group had been posted online as part of a “name and shame culture”.
But he suggested that any prison sentence could be suspended to allow Subhan to undergo “positive courses and action” to deal with his behaviour.
He added: “In the long run, society is best protected by giving this defendant an opportunity to address these matters as opposed to an immediate custodial sentence.” Recorder MacDonald opted not to sentence Subhan to a short period of immediate custody but to instead allow the probation service to work with him to manage the risk he poses to children.
But he warned Subhan that he had avoided prison “by a whisker” and that his support would be “robustly enforced”.
He sentenced Subhan to two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years plus a 24-month community order and 40 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
He is subject to a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will have to register as a sex offender for the same period.
Recorder MacDonald ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the mobile phones seized by police.
