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Police Officer Spent 20 Years Working Undercover As A Paedophile

Police Officer Spent 20 Years Working Undercover As A Paedophile

Ian James spent years working in deep cover dealing with some of the most horrific offenders and materials imaginable.

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A former police officer has revealed how he spent two decades working undercover as a paedophile.

Ian James witnessed and endured some of the most horrifying things that any public servant can be asked to see, and managed to save many children along the way, as well as bring monsters to justice.

He travelled abroad with his work, and studied the behaviour as well as gaining the trust of child sex offenders along the way, all whilst attempting to raise his own children with his devoted wife.

Since then, he's written a book entitled Save One Child and has told his story on the podcast series Anything Goes With James English.

YouTube/Anything Goes With James English

James grew up in Cornwall and joined the police force as a cadet at 18-years-old.

During his years in the force, he worked in London before moving up to the North of England and working in Cleveland.

However, it was his time as an undercover operative working to catch child sex offenders that defined his years in uniform.

Obviously, times have changed now and much of the work that Ian would have been asked to do is now online, but the father-of-two had to conduct his business in real life, building relationships with those who he intended to bring to justice.

Speaking on the podcast, James explained the difficulties he faced in gaining the trust of the predators he was seeking.

"They're very cautious, they're very suspicious, they're very suspicious because they don't necessarily think you're a police officer, they're more likely to think you're a journalist and they're going to be named and shamed.

"Sometimes what you've got to do is manipulate them to be accepted, and it's so difficult because you'll only have a small window of opportunity to do it.

"Then, if you don't, if you're not successful, then theoretically, you're finished. Because you can't go back in your domain."

Amazon Books

James discussed at length how he struggled not to bring his work home with him, and continues to deal with the horror of what he witnessed during his years in the field.

He also spoke of how many refuse the work because they 'can't force themselves to talk to these people'.

The day-to-day business of his work involved looking at images of children that he didn't want to see so he wouldn't give himself away and could 'hide [his] inner self' and 'block everything out' performing an 'acting role'.

"If I can't deal with that image, a predator would identify me and I might put a child at risk," he explained.

Over the years, James managed to build up trust with the predators, all the while struggling not to blow his cover while simultaneously dealing with some of the most horrific material imaginable.

His longest job during his career lasted for an entire year and saw him dealing with many different predators, including one who was 'very high risk, very dangerous' and 'regarded as one of the worst ones about at that time'.

He also went into prison to catch an already incarcerated offender, risking his own safety as not only a police officer, but - seemingly - someone sympathetic to those imprisoned for child sex offences.

YouTube/Anything Goes With James English

He said: "You can imagine the sort of complexities, I'm going into a prison.

"The problem there is, they don't like predators, and I'm supposed to be a sympathiser, or I could be one.

"And, I'm actually meeting someone who is convicted, so you can imagine the potential hostility."

Over the years, James was responsible for saving at least 50 children, and that desire to help the kids kept him heading back into these situations to catch those responsible.

"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."

YouTube/Anything Goes With James English

Now, he wants to raise awareness not only of child safety in a world where predatory behaviour is rife, but also as a form of catharsis for himself.

"It's a subject that people don't want to read, and I don't want to glorify what I did, I wanted people to really understand just how difficult it is, and how hard it is.

"It's still relevant now even though we've moved into this online world.

"There are predators out there, so it's not just online. [But] you've got to be careful online.

"There's more likelihood of children being abused now than ever before because it's so easy."

You can listen to the full podcast with Ian James on the Anything Goes With James English channel on YouTube

Featured Image Credit: Anything Goes With James English

Topics: Police, UK News, Weird, YouTube