Man who went undercover as a paedophile speaks out about the worst thing he ever saw
A police officer who worked undercover as a paedophile for 20 years saved at least 50 children in the process.
Working in arguably the world's darkest job, Ian James encountered a number of 'very high risk, very dangerous' predators, of whom he had to protect long enough to have them arrested.
In a 2021 interview on Anything Goes with James English, Ian opened up about joining the force at 18 in London and later in Cleveland.
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During his line of work, he was forced to become friendly with predators, regularly looking at illegal and explicit images of children without giving himself away.
Ian said he would 'hide [his] inner self' and 'block everything out' by performing a type of 'acting role'.
Revealing one of his worst encounters, the detective spoke about the time he befriended a predator who took him up to his flat with five others.
On arrival he was shown a number of horrifying images, which could later be used for evidence.
However, after a short while they informed him that a 12-year-old boy was heading up to the flat and the paedophiles told Ian that they want him to have sex with the boy.
Ian explained that he had two options at the time.
Number one would be to stall for long enough to get police back-up through the door to make the arrests.
But if that would take too long, Ian would have to reveal to them that he is an undercover officer and try and arrest them himself.
"At the end of the day, I've got to hold this boy and I've got to protect this boy," he explained.
"I can't take back what's happened to the boy previously, do you know what I mean?
"It's the here and the now. All I know is that whilst I'm here no one's going to touch him and that he's safe.
"But then it's a cat and mouse game because at some point I've got to make a decision because if the police don't come then I've got to come out of role."
Thankfully, the police backup did arrive and the men were arrested.
Ian saved countless children from further abuse and admitted it became a bit of an 'obsession'.
He said: "You save one child, and you think 'do you know what? I can do this because I've just done it.'
"The satisfaction that I had became a bit of an obsession because if you save one child, then you want to save another one, then another one.
"Dare I say it - we were probably far more successful in saving children than we were at getting convictions."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
Anish Vij