Controversial website to be 'more serious' (From Witney Gazette)

Controversial website to be 'more serious'

9:00am Wednesday 13th September 2006

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ONE of the creators of a controversial Witney-based website which 'names and shames' alleged paedophiles has distanced himself from the project after being threatened.

Catchaperv.com, which lures men into webchats by posing as young girls, was criticised by Oxfordshire and London police for being 'irresponsible', and potentially driving sex offenders underground.

"It is designed with the interests of teenage, and younger, girls, who may be at risk in chat rooms on the Internet."

Gary Urquhart

It was set up last month by Gary Urquhart, 23, from Burwell Drive, Witney, and his friend known only as Ash, also 23, who used to live in the town.

The pair begin talking with men in online chat rooms by pretending to be 12-year-old girls, before publishing their photographs, e-mail addresses, transcripts of their conversations, and explicit web cam footage.

Mr Urquhart told the Witney Gazette that Ash had dissociated himself from the website 'due to ongoing threats to personal safety'. But he vowed to continue the site alone.

He said all explicit material had been removed from the site, and added: "Catchaperv.com is preparing to liaise with the police and the Child Protection Agency with regards to our findings."

The website originally said its aim was to 'provide comedy videos of people being caught on cam trying to chat to young girls', but it now has a new, more serious homepage message.

It reads: "The website catchaperv.com was set up with the aim of raising awareness of the issue in hand.

"It is designed with the interests of teenage, and younger, girls, who may be at risk in chat rooms on the Internet."

It denies that the website is 'naming and shaming' alleged paedophiles, and says: "There is no reference that suggests this. It is clear, however, that the behaviour demonstrated is unacceptable. The site shows the extent of the problem by highlighting such activities."

* People are being urged to report abuse to official channels like the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, whose website addres is www.ceop.gov.uk

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