©️ Opinion Piece – By Sophie Lewis

---

We’re getting some predator stings wrong and the cost could be children’s safety.

First, respect where it’s due: I take my hat off to the people who do this work. I couldn’t. It’s intense, risky, and takes guts. But here’s the thing and it will ruffle feathers.

A disturbing number of the men being caught in these videos have clear, severe learning difficulties: autism, Asperger’s, profound cognitive impairments. Some can’t follow basic conversation. Some don’t understand social cues, relationships, or even the gravity of what’s happening.

And yet, in clip after clip, they’re treated as if they’re hardened, calculating predators. They’re belittled, mocked, sometimes even name-called while terrified out of their minds. I’ve seen men so scared they urinated themselves on camera, only to be humiliated further, edited into clips, and thrown online for clicks.

This isn’t professional. This isn’t safeguarding. This is content.

---

Before You Twist My Words

I’m not defending anyone who seeks contact with a child. That’s never okay.

But as a survivor who has published over 100 investigative articles, built offender typologies, and engaged directly with predators in controlled interviews, I know this:
If we’re serious about stopping abuse, we have to understand where the behaviour comes from and tailor how we deal with it.

---

The Evidence Backs This Up

• In the UK, 7% of prisoners have IQs below 70, and another 25% fall into the borderline range (70–79).
• Around 30% of prisoners struggle with learning difficulties or disabilities that impair their ability to understand proceedings.

These aren’t “soft facts” they’re hard data. Vulnerable offenders are over-represented in the system, and too often left unidentified and unsupported.

---

Here’s the Truth

• A man with a severe cognitive impairment may still pose a risk but that risk must be handled differently.
• Without proper safeguarding training, sting teams can end up traumatising someone who barely comprehends what’s happening, instead of getting them into the right intervention.
• Public shaming might make for viral content, but it doesn’t reduce reoffending.

---

If Sting Teams Want Credibility as Child Protection, They Need:

1. Training in identifying learning disabilities and autism.
2. Clear protocols for how to handle vulnerable offenders without compromising safety.
3. Referral pathways — police, mental health services, specialist offender programmes.
4. A commitment to context, not chopping up a terrified man’s meltdown into a TikTok clip.

---

The Survivor Bottom Line

We already recognise that vulnerable victims need special handling. Why is it so controversial to say vulnerable offenders do too?

This is not about letting anyone off the hook. It’s about making sure interventions actually work.

Because humiliating a man who doesn’t even understand what’s happening to him doesn’t make children safer. Professional safeguarding does.

If you choose to do this work, then do it professionally. Because if we keep treating all offenders the same, we’ll keep missing opportunities to stop the ones who could change and we’ll keep failing kids in the long run.

And if that ruffles feathers? Good. Because feathers need ruffling.

---