THE man behind the sting which snared Anthony Milnes described the case as “the worst case of grooming and sexual exploitation we have ever seen”.

Stinson Hunter began his work as a ‘paedophile hunter’ when he decided to create a dating profile of a 15-year-old girl looking for a friend, not knowing what to expect.

Within moments of the new profile being created, he received a variety of diverse messages from men of all ages.

He said: “Even though the young age of ‘15′ was clearly pronounced, this did not dissuade some from sending posts of a sexually explicit nature, including images.”

A team now continues the work, alongside Mr Hunter, setting up online profiles of girls between the ages of 11 and 15 and managed to snare Milnes by posing as a young girl aged 13.

After Milnes’ conviction, Mr Hunter said the case ranked among the worst the team had dealt with.

“It was without doubt the worst case of grooming and sexual exploitation we have ever seen in terms of his age and the way he went about it,” he said.

During their investigations, they never approach someone first, the profile is set up and they wait for any contact.

Upon receiving the very first message, they repeat that the person is underage.

Information and any video footage is then handed to police.

However, their work has been criticised in the past by the police who have said his actions may be breaking the law by entrapping people.

But Mr Hunter denies he is a ‘vigilante’, describing himself as a journalist.

Outlining the motives behind the work, Mr Stenson’s website says: “We never thought for a moment that the videos we upload would be as popular as they have been, nor did we consider the largely positive response; however, understandably, there are people who are sceptical about the concept and the way we work. But, this aside, we would like to thank you all for your overwhelming support.”

For more information on Mr Hunter and his team’s work, visit stinson-hunter.com