1st Year Anniversary – Ratty Rowland- Founder

11th July 2019

January 2018 and I was just picking up a kebab from the local chippy when I got a reply from a previous reply I made on a old school friends profile. It was gavin, he was involved in a group called Parental online protection and asked me if I wanted to join. In short, it would be to combat online grooming through the occasional Sting, but more importantly through raising awareness using the Facebook page as a platform. Took me a while to get into it but it’s nice I did I decided to have a go at decoying within the group. Didn’t take long for me to bag my first sexual predator, a 50 year old male wanting to pay a 13 year old for sex. He was Stung in Nottingham and my addiction for this whole operation began. I started to get more and more predators, and working all ngaide Gavin, we were the only decoys at the time. My best sentence was for a male named Phillip grace, 3 decoys were on this man and he was caught while waiting for the child in Milton Keynes. He had a sleeping bag, tent, rubber gloves and condoms, he recieves a 5 year sentance.

As more and more people joined P.O.P. there was more of a buzz to go out stinging, which sort of left the whole point of P.O.P. lagging behind. Jo (the founder of P.O.P) wanted to pull the team back on track to raising awareness and also not releasing the live footage of a confrontation until after conviction, the rest of the team didn’t agree.

I had already been thinking about creating my own group and felt that I could do it, it was later confirmed I would make my own team when I was inundated with inboxes for team mates supporting me in a new venture, and that they would join me in my new team. It was then that S.T.O.P was born.

Gavin and I continued to decoy in stop, to get things moving, Gav had a Sting already lined up for stop and we carried that out 3 days later on a Romanian national named robao. We confronted him as he got off the train to meet the 13 year old decoy, he admitted it all on the live and we waited for the police to arrive to arrest him. Our stop story then began.

1 year later and we have 101 arrests, various convictions with the highest being 11 years and 1 month, various recognition with different police forces and a reputation within the community that is second to none. I’ve always wanted to approach stings in a calm way, bit with a hint of sarcasm and control, you don’t make a predator squirm by yelling at them,but by using words to make them feel small. We will never Sting any different, we will never copy styles from other teams, but we will look to lead the hunting community by our standards alone.

I’ve met some great people along the way people that have taught me so much, if like to thank those that have been apart of stop individually, so….

Jo S – you welcomed me into your team and encouraged me to decoy, that’s where it all started. You allowed me to have a voice within the group and have always supported me, hence why I will always continue to support you.

Clint/Lesley/carbs/JoJo/Paul/Jono/Vaughan – always felt bad with how things went and I so wish you could be a part of what’s happening here, I do miss you guys, your the sole reason this group started to push in the right direction.

Jordan – My old side kick. Always at stings and always taking part in group activities, just wish your demons never came out to play so much.

My current team –

Linda & Sarah, my nearest and dearest decoys. Your relentless and deserve as many accolades as there is, I really hope one day we can all quit our day jobs and focus our lives on what we do. I appreciate all the work you put in and to think how many kids you have saved is unreal.

Shell decoy / Marie decoy / Peter /Carla, the newest decoys out of the bunch but all work so hard in catching predators. I’m so lucky to have you guys.

Gavin, wow dude. We came back stronger and put everything behind us. We grew up together at school and our last best drifted for a while until we teamed up again doing this. For what you have been through, you are an inspiration to me, so strong, so respected and a brave man that fought for us all so we could live the way we do. Your a special man, a special veteran and in me you always have a place in my heart X

Jay Leigh – my favourite gay lady. Strong willed, opiniated and such a warming character. Everyone in stops adores you and your personality shines through on every Sting. Such a caring lady and a wonderful mother, me and my family love you X

Our Dave, mr perfectionist. My right hand man and my head of security. Such a nosey bugger, bit that is one of his strengths, he leaves no stone unturned in making sure we are all safe and know what we are doing. Such a top guy.

Graham , what a dude! He leaves me mesmerized with what he can find out, mind blowing and a real asset to the team.

Mark, our current Mr posh and donator of our website. His technical knowledge on computers is ace and gives us a good balance in research.

Danny, Frazer, Sophie, padlock, Leon, whippet, John, Adele, Heidi, adam, you guys are awesome, your dedication is second to none and you guys are just as important as everyone else. Without you stings don’t happen!

Last but not least, is Donna.

An amazing lady, her personality is infectious and she has alot of fight and determination in her. She’s had to fight all her life, for her life and this shows through her character. She has been my rock, confident and my advisor since she joined back in December 2018, she started as decoy but very quickly rose up through the ranks to become my team leader. This wan is like a sister to me and our support for each other will never be tested or rivalled. I can’t thank her enough for what she has done and for how hard she has worked for the team. Many more stings to come xxx

Also to my amazing partner kim,for putting up with the nights alone while I’m up and down the country confronting these people, thanks for understanding XXX

Finally I just want to thank k everyone who has shared out work, like our page or given us support through our page, you guys can help us make a difference by continuing to share our work and to get the predators face out there.

Much love x