Barry paedophile who stole man's identity jailed - BBC News
The man was wrongly held in custody after Stephen Price stole his identity from an internet site.
Stephen Price was jailed for three years for sexual offences after stealing the identity of another man

A man who had his identity stolen by a sex offender to groom young girls was wrongly held in custody over Christmas.

The unnamed father's details were stolen from a dating site by Stephen Price, 53, from Barry, and used to send explicit images to a 14-year-old girl.

However the "girl" was actually a group of paedophile hunters, who visited the innocent man's house and accused him of being a paedophile.

He was jailed for three years and made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Prosecutor Christopher Rees said: "The man whose picture Price was using was visited at his home by four large men just before Christmas.

"They accused him in front of his elderly mother of being a paedophile," he told the court.

The man was arrested and was locked up over Christmas, before being released on bail and his name was not cleared until Price's arrest in February.

Price admitted attempting sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

Defending, Clare Wilks said: "Mr Price accepts creating a fake profile and chose the picture of a younger and more attractive man.

"He had no idea that man would be tracked in the way he was."

Judge Nicola Jones said: "The situation has caused untold damage to the man.

"There has been a considerable deterioration in his mental health. He was locally reviled and abused on social media.

"The paedophile hunters - if I can use that awful expression - realised they had made an enormous mistake. They had named and shamed a man who was entirely innocent."

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