Dark Justice (group)


Dark Justice are a two-man operation based in Newcastle upon Tyne. They are not police officers, although their tactics are similar to those sometimes used by police. They are an online group who pose as children normally between the ages of 11 and 15 in order to catch online child groomers. When they meet a child groomer in real life, members of Dark Justice wear bulletproof vests. Their evidence has been used in court and has successfully secured the prosecution of over 115 online groomers including Roger Lee, and Barry Scott. In May 2018, the Evening Chronicle reported that Dark Justice have secured over 150 arrests with over 40 of those being jailed.
Dark Justice is run by two men and use aliases in the form of Scott and Callum.
The two men met each other through Scott's brother. Prior to starting Dark Justice, both men worked in the digital media industry.
During 2017, an anonymous businessman gave Dark Justice an office in Newcastle to serve as the group's new base of operations.
Dark Justice do not get paid for their work and instead receive support from their families and use money that they have in savings and from donations to their website to fund their work.
In mid 2017, Dark Justice won a landmark high court judgment to continue their work and The Hon. Brian Langstaff concluded that the members of Dark Justice had "acted as private citizens throughout". Of the outcome, Dark Justice said "It could have been terrible but we are thrilled the judge has sided with us".
In 2019, a "landmark" ruling was passed meaning that paedophiles would now face the same sentence regardless of whether or not the child they attempted to meet was real. Of the ruling, Dark Justice said it was "brilliant and a great move forward within the law".