MAN ARRESTED FOLLOWING SEXUAL COMMUNICATION WITH A CHILD
A Leicester man who is understood to have changed his name from Paul Johnstone to Mark Clark found himself at the centre of an online child protection sting after allegedly believing he was speaking to young teenage girls.The operation was carried out by volunteer child protection team Protecting Pompeys Innocent, whose members say they gathered evidence before the suspect was arrested.
According to the group's public statement, the man engaged in sexually explicit conversations with people he believed to be 14 and 13 years old, discussed meeting for sexual purposes and requested indecent images.
The group also claimed he repeatedly used the platform's block and unblock functions during the conversations, but said this did not prevent investigators from documenting the exchanges before police became involved.
Publishing the outcome of the operation in October 2024, Protecting Pompeys Innocent announced the suspect's arrest and praised the volunteers involved in the investigation, including the decoys, researchers and supporting teams who helped identify and locate him.
Campaigners say the case demonstrates how online child protection groups continue to expose adults allegedly seeking sexual contact with children by posing as underage teenagers and preserving digital evidence for law enforcement.
The case has drawn renewed attention after it emerged that the man is understood to have changed his name from Paul Johnstone to Mark Clark.
While a legal name change alters how a person is known, it does not erase the historical public record of previous events or reporting.
Protecting Pompeys Innocent's published account alleges the suspect believed he was communicating with children aged 13 and 14, with the conversations escalating into sexual discussion before police intervention.
Those allegations were made by the group as part of its public report of the operation.
