Prolific paedophile hunter who poses as child online has devices seized
A paedophile hunter who poses as a child online to snare sexual predators has had her devices seized by police.
Cheyenne O’Connor, 27, claims to have secured 25 convictions through her work, and police data shows she has contributed to eight cases in the past year.
She was arrested in December over one contempt of court allegation and another of harassing a convicted paedophile by pursuing him for a photo.
Her mobile phone and laptop have been taken away by police while she is on bail.
Cheyenne, who started her campaign in attempt to catch paedophiles living on Jersey, said she has now been blocked from doing her job.
She claims the investigation into her has put three current cases she was hoping to bring to court into doubt.
"I can't carry on what I have been doing as they have got all my devices - my decoy is logged into the phones they have and I have no way of getting into the decoy accounts,” she said.
"They take months to set up and I had three cases pending. They kept saying, where do you get you info and how do you find out this stuff?
"They think there is something on there and I have someone high up giving me information.”
It is understood the contempt of court claim surrounds Miss O'Connor publishing the details of a convicted sex offender on her Facebook account.
The judge at the Royal Court ruled he shouldn't be named in any coverage relating to his application, as publicity ‘created difficulties for himself and his wife’ and raised concerns about vigilantism.
The harassment allegation is in relation to another convicted paedophile who Cheyenne also publicised on her page upon his release from prison.
Cheyenne initially took on her one-woman role to rid Jersey of paedophiles as she felt victims were being let down by the authorities.
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Jersey was subject to a wide-ranging investigation into historic sex abuse on the island in 2008.
Cheyenne said courts were still failing victims of sexual abuse and ‘haven’t moved on’ in tackling the perception of the ‘Jersey Way’ since the damning inquiry report.
The States of Jersey Police said they don't condone the work of paedophile hunters in general and won't work proactively with them.
A spokesperson said: “We do understand the public’s desire to keep children safe and protect them from harm and we also understand the temptation to take matters into their own hands, but vigilante activity in this area carries high risk.
“Investigations can be undermined, forensic and other opportunities can be lost, with often the quality of information passed onto police being low.
"Techniques used by vigilantes may not always be acceptable police investigative tactics and in some cases may involve criminality.
“There is also an absence of any governance or control for their actions nor any way of safeguarding child victims.
“There is no way of controlling the risk that vigilante activity might disrupt covert law enforcement activity, given that both will seek to target the same types of offender.
“Proper standards of victim care, or indeed managing the welfare of people exposing themselves to child abuse material, will largely be absent and cannot be assured in any case.
"The risk to individuals who are “exposed” in this way – whether accurately or not – from themselves or others is generally not anticipated, assessed or cared about.
“There is also a risk to vigilantes themselves, often with little consideration given to the exposure of this type of activity may bring.”
