A vigilante who was part of a paedophile hunting group has been jailed after a man was falsely accused of rape and humiliated online.
Sam Miller may be one of the first paedophile hunters in the country to be put behind bars. The 29-year-old was the "self-appointed leader" of the Child Online Safety Team (COST), in which members pose online as children to snare paedophiles.
Newcastle Crown Court heard how, during a sting operation in 2020, a man was recorded live on Facebook as he was forced to the ground and had a torch shone in his face.
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The victim, who remains unconvicted, was accused of having a sexual chat with a child and subjected to a citizen's arrest.
Following a trial, Miller, of Front Street, Witton Gilbert, County Durham, was found guilty by a jury of one count of false imprisonment.
Another member of the group, James Moss, 58, of Laburnum Avenue, Blyth, Northumberland, was also convicted of false imprisonment.
During their sentencing hearing on Friday, Judge Julie Clemitson said: "He was kept in that same position for more than 14 minutes.
"He repeatedly asked for he torch to be turned off and for you not to film him. He was told he had lost the privilege to even stand up. You wrongly said he had been convicted of rape.
"Your actions made towards him were clearly designed to cause maximum humiliation and distress. He had no rights at all, as far as you were concerned."
The judge told the court how the group were unlicensed civilians who have no greater authority than any other member of the public.
She said more force than needed had been used to carry out a citizen's arrest on the man.
Judge Clemitson said: "You were not prepared to give him a fair hearing. Society as a whole demands that everyone, no matter how awful the crime, is treated fairly otherwise where is there a line to be drawn?"
The court heard how Miller had decided not to allow the police to make the arrest as he believed they didn't act quickly enough.
The judge said that other groups had also recruited Miller to make arrests on their behalf, rather than go to the police.
She said: "The arrest was not itself an unlawful act but you could have contacted the police first, as you'd been asked to."
Gordon Carse, defending Miller, told the court how he suffers from ADHD as well as anxiety and depression. He said he cares for his elderly grandmother and his dad has a terminal illness.
Mr Carse urged the judge to hand him a suspended prison sentence.
He said: "If there's a custodial sentence given today, given that, as I understand it, his father has been given about six months to live, he would be less likely to see his father in his remaining days."
The court heard how Miller had a number of previous convictions which include impersonating a police officer and assault.
Judge Clemitson sentenced Miller to nine months behind bars. She told him that she had taken into account his personal circumstances and the fact his father has six months left to live.
The court heard how he had already served a significant period of his sentence by way of an electronically monitored curfew.
The judge told Moss: "Like Mr Miller, you do not appear to have any regard for the police and criminal justice system."
She accepted that he had a lesser role and had acted, as he had described it, as security.
Judge Clemitson said he was new to the group and had "clearly got carried away". She said: "I accept you thought you were going to carry out a lawful action, you were acting under the instructions of Mr Miller."
The court heard how he works in a caring profession with adults with learning difficulties and has significant mental health problems.
Moss was handed a six month prison sentence suspended for 18 months. He was ordered to complete up to 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirement and abide by an electronically monitored curfew.
Detective Sergeant Simon Wardle, of Northumbria Police, was in charge of the case.
Following the sentencing hearing, he said: "Keeping the vulnerable safe and tackling online child sexual abuse and exploitation is a priority for us and we are absolutely committed to protecting people from harm and bringing offenders to justice.
"This includes specially-trained officers within our Paedophile Online Investigation Team working tirelessly to identify those targeting young people.
"While we recognise some Child Online Activist Groups are motivated by the desire to protect children, Sam Miller and James Moss had ulterior motives and set out to cause harm.
"It is essential that the correct procedures are followed around the gathering of evidence, questioning of suspects and safeguarding of any potential victims and the actions of Miller and his associate was completely unacceptable as they wrongly accused a man of rape and live streamed his illegal detention to their followers.
"This behaviour will not be tolerated and we cannot have people taking the law in to their own hands, for whatever reason. Such actions can undoubtedly reduce the prospect of successful prosecutions and can actually harm live, ongoing, evidence led police investigations.
"We would encourage anyone who has any information about child sexual exploitation to come forward and share this with the police so we can take action."
