You’ve probably heard of pedophile hunters.
They are the self-proclaimed vigilantes who pose as children online to catch guys looking to meet boys and girls for sex and then expose them. online.
Well, I was one of Australia’s first pedophile hunters and got my first scalp long before social media made it easy to expose these monsters.
Nowadays, “hunters” set their traps on social networks and in chats, arrange a meeting with the target and confront him on camera.
They usually hand over the images and chat logs to the police to handle, but sometimes public shaming is punishment enough.
But when I started, we operated in the shadows and our methods were old-fashioned.
It was the late 90s in Sydney. He had discovered the address of a professor in a private room. school who had been accused of a litany of sickening sex crimes – including kidnapping – against young boys in the eastern suburbs.
William Charles Lucan-Roberts, 61, had been accused of abusing dozens of boys aged between 12 and 16 during a four-decade reign of terror at the prestigious Sydney Boys High School, whose alma mater includes Hollywood stars and early ministers..
A teacher at Sydney Boys High School (campus seen here) committed suicide in the late 1990s after I exposed his alleged crimes on the eve of his trial, writes our anonymous pedophile hunter.
Lucan-Roberts, a language and cricket teacher, was awaiting trial when, under the cover of darkness and dressed all in black, I dropped a leaflet on every door of his building and into every mailbox on his street.
“Warning: Alleged pedophile William Charles Lucan-Roberts lives in —,” my photocopied letter read.
“He is accused of raping and sexually abusing dozens of pupils at Sydney Boys High School and will appear at Downing Center Local Court on Thursday.”
The next day, and less than 24 hours before his trial was to begin, he was found dead in the backyard pool of a friend’s house.
“I felt it was better to leave…” he wrote in his two-line suicide note.
Did I feel an ounce of guilt because my act of vigilantism could have been the last straw that caused him to end his life?
No, not even a little bit. Quite the opposite: I was ecstatic. And I still am to this day.
It was exactly the result I wanted.
I remember as if it were yesterday the wave of relief that washed over me knowing that his alleged victims could rest easy knowing that he was gone.
That’s the thing about pedophiles: they never stop. They never, ever stop. So I wish everyone would commit suicide. I really want it.
Some people say, “It’s terrible when someone dies.”
To them I say: ‘No. When it comes to people who sexually assault children, they don’t deserve to live. They have given up their right to live in society.
And I’m glad I helped at least one get out quickly.
I carried out similar letter-writing campaigns against more than a dozen other suspected or convicted pedophiles in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
But I have never had confirmation that my efforts have produced the same result..
You may be wondering why I feel so driven to go after those who hurt children.
Well, when I was a little girl, a friend from school told me that her father was “doing things to her.”
She didn’t say he was hitting her, just that he was doing “something.”
And of course, at that age I had no idea what he was talking about.
I was the only friend he had invited to his house: it was dirty. He slept on the newspapers. Dirty dishes were piled up in the sink.
Her father was an old drunk and she lived alone with him. She told me that every night I had to run her a bath and make her hot chocolate.
Then one day she said, “I’m going to poison him.”
At first I didn’t believe him. They were just childish words spoken in anger.
But I will never forget the day when the principal walked into our classroom with a solemn expression and asked to speak to my friend. His father was dead.
She was very happy afterwards.
I carried out similar letter-writing campaigns against more than a dozen other suspected or convicted pedophiles in the eastern suburbs (pictured: Sydney’s Bondi Beach).
Years later, I became a mother myself and memories of my childhood friend came flooding back.
A male acquaintance with a fancy job started showing a lot of interest in me.
He was offering to do all these nice things. ‘Can I buy this for you? Can I pay you to have your hair done?
I thought, ‘This is strange: he’s married.’ Why is he doing this?
Then one day, my daughter was having a sleepover with her kids.
‘When it comes to people who sexually assault children, they don’t deserve to live. They have renounced their right to live in society’ (archive image)
When she got home, she said, “Oh, naughty Nathan* came into my room when it was dark outside and started kissing me on the lips.”
I knew immediately that he had been preparing me.
I took my daughter straight to a child sexual assault clinic where she had to undergo invasive tests to see if he had done anything more than just kiss her.
No child should have to experience that. The results were negative and the police eventually said they could not prosecute because there was not enough evidence.
But we demand our own form of justice. Two others and I went to his house and beat him up.
The look on his face when he opened the door gave away his guilt.
He was a big guy but he fell like a crying baby in a pile.
We were kicking and punching him on the ground. Finally a crowd gathered in the street and I went out and told anyone who would listen that I was a pedophile.
His wife divorced him, but a few weeks later we found out that he had left with a new woman, another single mother, who had two young daughters.
Like I said, they never stop. And the horrible thing is that they are everywhere.
I think a lot of parents just don’t know. They live in a bubble of “everything is beautiful and pleasant.”
But I’ve never lived in that bubble. One day my daughter was playing with other children in Waverley Park, near Bondi Junction, when I saw an old man approaching with his puppy.
When I got there, he had already left quickly. I asked my daughter what she said and she laughed.
“She was showing us her puppy, but what she didn’t realize was that when she bent over, all of her man’s things would fall out,” she said.
I told the other moms, who said they were sure it was just a mistake. An old fool. Many parents are ethereal fairies and want to see the good in everyone.
But he knew exactly what he was doing. I called the police and I called the local newspaper, trying to create as much noise as possible.
I’m always aware. I don’t care how old he is. I’m always taking care of those abused children…children with a tormented expression on their faces.
The depressing truth is that most pedophiles are never caught.
Normally they are not the dirty and drug addicts on the street.
He is the father, the brother, the grandfather, the uncle, the family friend.
They are often well connected and respected in society.
And those who get caught barely get a slap on the wrist.
If they go to prison, especially in Australia, they could get between six and 18 months. It’s no big deal. It’s a joke.
That’s why I campaigned for an Australian version of ‘Megan’s Law’ in the US.
The law, which requires authorities to make public the addresses of registered sex offenders, was introduced after the rape and murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka.
Her neighbor, convicted sex offender Jesse Timmendequas, had lured her to his home before disposing of her body in a nearby park.
There is no such law in Australia, although Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has previously called for a national register of child sex offenders.
Australian parents should be allowed to know if the person living on their street is a pedophile.
Critics say they will simply be kicked out and have to live somewhere else.
Good. As far as I’m concerned, keep kicking them out until they’re living in a shed in Timbuktu.
Or better yet: keep harassing them until they commit suicide.
They are not normal. I see them evil. It is pure evil to want to hurt a child.
*Names have been changed.
As he told Max Aitchison.
If you or someone you know needs help, please contact 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or the Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800.
For confidential 24-hour support in Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14
