https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...her-death.html

A Dutch police chief has called for the end of 'paedophile hunts' after teenagers beat a 73-year-old retired teacher to death in Arnhem.

Jan Kruitwagen was snared by boys who posed as a 15-year-old in a gay chatroom and invited the former teacher to meet in a park in the city.

Kruitwagen was aware that he was supposed to be meeting a child, investigators said, but there was no evidence of any previous sexual abuse.

The pensioner arrived at the meeting point on October 28 and was then followed home by the gang who beat him up. Kruitwagen died of his injuries in hospital.

A lawyer for one of seven boys arrested told local media that his client had been drawn into the vigilantism 'out of boredom in this corona time.'

He emphasised that his client was not involved in the beating itself.

Six of the seven teenagers arrested are under 18. Two of them have been remanded into custody.

The lawyer Jamil Roethof told national paper De Gelderlander that the boys had no premeditated plan to attack Kruitwagen and only wanted to confront him. He suggested that the retiree died of a fall.

East Netherlands regional police chief Oscar Dros urged citizens to 'stop paedo-hunting; stop detaining; stop provoking - leave this to us.'

Dros told Algemeen Dagblad newspaper that 250 incidents involving 'paedophile hunters' had been recorded since July.

Local media said that the gang of boys had been inspired by reading reports of these cases.

Dozens of former pupils, colleagues and friends of Kruitwagen held a candle-lit vigil for the retired teacher last weekend.

Arnhem Mayor Ahmed Marcouch has called it a 'monstrous' crime.

The practice has been specifically banned by public prosecutors and the police in the Netherlands.

The vigilantes say that they only act to protect children, but similar groups in Britain have been described by one chief constable as 'not helpful.'

Although the practice has led to successful prosecutions against numerous paedophiles in the United Kingdom, it has also led to suicides and alleged assaults of those targeted.
Simon Bailey, chief constable of Norfolk Police, said last year: 'I can't deny they've led to convictions, but they've also led to people being blackmailed, people being subject of GBH (grievous bodily harm), the wrong people being accused, people committing suicide as a result of interventions, family lives being completely destroyed, in the name of what? Facebook likes.'

In the UK, the vigilantism of paedophile hunters is not against the law.

But the Dutch police chief Dros said he did not know of a single example which had led to a paedophile being convicted.

He said the vigilantism had 'no effect, because the evidence these citizens believe they have is often paper thin.'
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europ...%20authorities.

A Dutch police chief has called for an end to "paedophile hunting" after a 73-year-old retired teacher was beaten up by teenagers and died of his injuries.

Oscar Dros said there was a risk more people could die and he appealed for justice to be left to the authorities.

The man from the eastern city of Arnhem was lured into having sexual contact with a minor while in a gay chatroom.

Authorities said he was aware the boy was underage. But there was no evidence of past sexual contact with minors.

The Arnhem attack is the latest in a series of 250 incidents involving so-called "paedophile hunters" in the Netherlands, reports say.

What happened in Arnhem
Reports say the group of teenagers had come up with the idea of hunting for a paedophile after reading stories elsewhere in the Netherlands.

The former teacher arrived at an agreed meeting point on 28 October and was then followed as he made his way home. He was beaten up by a group of boys and died later in hospital.

Mayor Ahmed Marcouch has spoken of an "awful crime" that has had an impact on the local community. Dozens of neighbours, friends and former pupils took part in a ceremony to remember the victim last weekend.
The fifteen-year-old's lawyer told local website De Gelderlander that the idea of hunting paedophiles "happened out of boredom in this corona time". His client had got carried away but did not himself take part in the attack.

Jamil Roethof argued that the teenagers had only wished to confront the man and had no premeditated plan to attack him. He suggested he had died of a fall.

Seven teenagers were arrested, six of them under the age of 18, and two have been held in custody.

What do police say?
East Netherlands regional police chief Oscar Dros appealed to Dutch citizens to "stop paedo-hunting; stop detaining; stop provoking - leave this to us."

Mr Dros told Algemeen Dagblad newspaper that since July some 250 incidents had been registered involving self-styled hunters, and there were probably many more. The practice has now been banned by police and public prosecutors.

People had been forced off the road, assaulted, threatened and publicly shamed on the internet, he said.

Facebook groups have sprung up across the country, with names like pedohuntnl, and some have attracted thousands of members.

One group member told public broadcaster NOS that "we're doing this to protect children".

Minutes after going into a chatroom, he claimed, five or six men would try to meet up with you, knowing full well you were a minor. "That's just not right."

Similar groups have appeared in the UK, prompting one assistant chief constable to say the overall activity of such groups was "not positive".

The Dutch police chief said such vigilante behaviour "has no effect, because the evidence these citizens believe they have is often paper thin".

He knew of not one example that had led to a paedophile being convicted.