VIGILANTES have posted a video on Facebook of them confronting a man in Malvern who they accused of being a paedophile.

The video was streamed live by the group Justice For The Tears on Thursday night.

They said the man had been using the internet to 'groom' what he thought were underage girls as young as 13.

In reality, the 'girls' were 'decoys' – members of the vigilante group who were pretending in order to set a trap for the man.

In the video, filmed by a female member of the group, the woman accuses the man of trying to arrange to meet the 'girls', engaging in sexual conversations, and sending them nude photos.

Justice for The Tears stage online sting operations to catch people that they believe are predators trying to groom children.

They said that the man in the video thought he was meeting a young girl when he arrived at the scene where the video was filmed.

The footage showed him being arrested by police after being accosted by members of Justice For The Tears as well as another vigilante group, Pompey Predator Watch.

The woman filming the video said there were screenshots of conversations the man had with six decoys and claimed that he had asked one of them to “go upstairs naked and talk dirty”.

After a request from police, the video has been removed from Facebook.

Justice For The Tears members said they would re-post the video on Facebook once the police have completed their investigation.

•A 20-year-old man appeared in court yesterday (Friday, April 13) accused of a string of sexual offences.

Declan James, aged 20, of Malvern, has been charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a child aged 13 to 15 to watch or look at an image of sexual activity, attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence, attempting to meet a girl under 16 years of age following grooming, and attempting to cause or incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity (no penetration).

All the alleged offences are said to have occurred between Sunday, April, 1 and Thursday, April 12 this year.