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Brave mum praised after posing as 10-year-old daughter to expose Irish paedophile

“It’s sick. My daughter was just a 10-year-old child. He is a father himself. He knew what he was doing”

Yesterday at 09:15

A top cop has praised the mum behind a trap to catch a paedophile preying on her 10-year-old child online.

The 35-year-old posed as her daughter to make sure detectives had the evidence they needed to get the pervert into court and where he belongs — prison.

West Yorkshire Police and the PSNI were both involved.

“We would like to thank the young girl and her family for their bravery in coming forward and assisting us in our investigation,’’ PSNI Detective Superintendent Gary Reid said.

“We have a highly dedicated team with specialised equipment who can trace any digital interaction right back to the person’s front door.”

That’s exactly what happened in this case.

Christopher Joseph Quinn, a father himself, hid behind various fake names on social media.

The little girl he was obsessed with lived in England — this deviant was from Maghera, Co Derry.

After engaging with him, the chat was taken over by the paedophile hunter group Predator Exposure.

Lasting five months, between March and July 2020, it wasn’t long before the net closed in on Quinn and detectives came calling.

Now serving a 12-month sentence, he’s just one of countless online predators.

When arrested, he told police he was “disgusted and ashamed” by his actions.

The 57-year-old also told them he committed the offences “due to the lockdown during the pandemic”.

But this doesn’t cut any ice with the mother of his victim.

“It’s sick. My daughter was just a 10-year-old child. He is a father himself. He was disgusted because he got caught, that’s all it was. He knew what he was doing,’’ she said.

“He said he was terrified of going to prison. Well, don’t talk to kids.”

With children having access to more than one digital device, police say they are at greater risk then ever of being targeted by predators like Quinn.

“They are opportunists and are incredibly manipulative in order to get what they want,” explained Det Supt Reid.

“We want to help parents understand the dangers online and encourage them to have conversations with their children about staying safe online.

“We need them to come to us so that we can ensure safeguarding issues are addressed and a thorough investigation is carried out to the required evidential standard.”

This mum has four other children, and she has this advice to other parents: “Just try and make your children aware of the dangerous situations they can get themselves into talking to strangers online.

“Just because you think they are safe in the house doesn’t mean that they are. Check their devices.”