AN EXPECTANT dad has told how his life "turned upside down" after he was wrongly identified as a paedophile on a vigilante Facebook page.

Scott Brown, 27, discovered his picture had been posted to the Facebook page, “UK Database”, a site known for naming and shaming paedophiles.

Earlier that day the expectant father had been out shopping for baby clothes and prams with his partner Tara Cuff. 

After arriving back to their home in Gwent, Wales, Scott began receiving a string of abusive messages to his Facebook account. 

It was then he realised that his picture had been posted on the “UK Database” page where he had been falsely identified as a convicted paedophile with the same name.

Scott, who is an assistant manager of a discount chain, said his life has now been turned upside down by the distressing incident and described the damage caused by the false claims as nothing short of horrific.

"I looked down at the screen and saw a picture of my face with the words ‘paedophile’ written next to it.

"People saying I'm a dead man walking and commenting the words 'Paedo' on all of my pictures and posts.

"Many of them were from people I grew up with or went to school with, so to see that kind of hatred aimed towards me was incredibly hurtful.

"The post literally spread like wildfire, but the worst part was the messages going to my family members who had no idea what was going on."

The bombardment of messages to Scott continued for several hours that night until the picture was eventually removed from the page.

The post followed a hearing at Cardiff Crown Court earlier that day where a different Scott Brown had appeared for sentence, admitting to making more than 700 indecent pictures.

'NO DUE DILIGENCE'

Mr Brown was found with 208 category A images, amongst others and was jailed for 10 months.

Scott and his partner believe there was no due diligence done by the Facebook page before uploading the post.

He said: “They must have just typed the name into the Facebook search bar along with the location, and then taken my profile picture from there.

"There's not even been an apology, and it just shows how quickly a rogue page like this can completely turn your life upside down."

His sister Jodie Moore, 30, who works as a theatre assistant for a health board, was one of the first to jump to her brother's defence when the news began to spread across her social media network.

She now hopes that people would be much more careful about the news they share and to know where it comes from.

She said: "It shows how dangerous social media can be in the wrong hands, and how careful you have to be in terms of what you believe from the internet."

Administrators of the UK Database website, which has more than 9,000 followers, have denied any connection to the Facebook page.

Source: Read Full Article