A paedophile hunter revealed he caught his wife's cousin trying to meet up with children online.

Joe Jones, founder of Guardians of the North, a Sunderland-based paedophile hunting group, opened up about his experience of catching a relative whilst speaking on an episode of Honesty Box, on LADbible TV's YouTube. 

The 54-year-old, who is a car dealer from Newcastle, said: 'One of my wife's cousins, we caught him. That was probably the most unexpected person we've caught.

However just because the man was a family member Joe admitted it didn't change the outcome of the sting. 

He added: 'I mean, if my mother was a paedophile, I would go and sting her as well, no one's exempt.'

Joe revealed he got into the paedophile hunting business after his own son, who was 12 years old at the time, was targeted by a paedophile on Facebook.

He said: 'I got into this because my son was getting messaged by a paedophile. I went to the police twice to help us to try and bring him to justice, but the police wouldn't help us.

'I just went home as a helpless parent, so I decided to try myself. Whilst trying, I had 30, 40 men and women messaging my profile. So I just felt guilty putting my phone down and just carried on from there.'

He claimed the police aren't doing enough to stop online grooming but they 'respect' what he is doing to help them. 

He said: 'If I thought police were doing enough, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now. And the fact is, they're underfunded, understaffed, and the amount of cases that we put before the cyber crime units around the country has basically, put them on overtime.

'I've got a lot of respect from police, judges, barristers, they all praise what we do because like I said, we're doing it in a way that suits everybody.'

Joe admitted he deals with 'trauma' due to the line of work saying he would have nightmares and talk about paedophiles in his sleep. 

He explained: 'You're still going through the phases where you feel a little bit guilty for what you're doing, but you soon realise once you've caught a few and time goes on, you get used to the idea and you settle down and you realise you're doing something good.'

Joe Jones, founder of Guardians of the North, a Sunderland-based paedophile hunting group, revealed he caught his wife's cousin trying to meet up with children online

The prolific paedophile hunter also revealed that although most are men, they have caught two women who were grooming children online. 

He added: 'We caught one in Aylesbury and we caught a woman on the Isle of Wight. Women actually groom children in a different way. A woman will talk about touchy-feely stuff, whereas a man will talk about penetrative sex.'

Joe revealed the typical reaction from someone once they know they have been caught is to 'deny', he said they usually say they had been 'hacked.' 

The seven-person group includes a window cleaner, a bus driver, a funeral directors and the unemployed – all of whom are seeking revenge after experiencing abuse first-hand. 

The hunters set up a fake Facebook profile, or 'decoy', using childhood pictures donated by adult supporters.

They add realism by liking pages like Disney on Ice and Justin Bieber and becoming friends with other decoy accounts.

They never initiate contact or start a sexual conversation. Often, a predator will send them a picture of his genitalia and ask to meet for sex. If he turns up he is caught by members of the group.

On the day of the sting, the team splits into two vehicles and keeps in touch by walkie talkie.

Speaking to the Mail Online in 2018, Joe said: 'We'll have one car blocking him in so he can't escape and another pulls up and confronts him.

'Often other hunters are sitting in nearby cafes or pubs as backup and watching out of the window. They take down his registration in case he gets away so that we can pass it on to the police.

'Everything we do is recorded on video for their sake as well as ours. That way we can prove we've done everything according to the law. As soon as we're sure we've got the right man, we call the police.'