Spindrift

Mark Sutherland was caught by paedophile hunters who posed a 13-year-old boy

A convicted paedophile who was snared by a vigilante group is to have his case examined at the UK Supreme Court.

Judges at the UK's highest court will consider whether prosecutions based on the covert operations of "paedophile hunters" breach the right to privacy.

Mark Sutherland, 37, believed he was communicating with a 13-year-old boy on the dating app Grindr.

But in reality it was a 48-year-old man who was part of a group called Groom Resisters Scotland.

The Supreme Court will hold a virtual hearing to consider the case and will issue its judgement later. It will decide whether covert sting operations by vigilante groups are a breach of the right to a private life and private correspondence under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The court defines "paedophile hunters" as self-appointed groups of vigilantes who impersonate children in order to expose people whom they consider to be sexual predators.

It says some of these groups have attracted substantial online followings and debate in mainstream media.

When Sutherland was tried at Glasgow Sheriff Court in 2018, the jury heard he had sent explicit pictures to what he believed was a 13-year-old boy, called James Boyle, whom he had contacted on the dating site Grindr.