Here we go again - tourist photographers detained by mums in Southend

Byker28i

Byker28i

Messages
21,341
Edit My Images
Yes
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/144...mob____for_taking_photos_of_seafront/?ref=trn

A group of tourist photographers in the UK found themselves in the middle of a tense, awkward situation this week when they were confronted, detained by, and accused of paedophilia by a group of angry mothers who thought they were photographing children. They were, in fact, taking photos of a fountain at the seafront.

Officers found no offences had been committed but Martin Richardson of the Happidrome arcade said he was disgusted customers kept asking him about a “paedophile ring being smashed on Southend seafront.”

A Facebook post by one of the women making the allegations has now been shared almost 13,000 times and features photographs of all three men – as well as describing how another woman took one of the men’s mobile phones during the confrontation.

Mr Richardson said: “It’s detrimental to the seafront because people have now got it in their heads there are paedophiles lurking around the seafront when these tourists, who were all teachers, were only taking pictures of the fountains so they could suggest something similar back home.

“But some stupid girl decided she’d ‘smashed a paedophile ring’ on Southend seafront and it’s been shared about 13,000 times on Facebook.


Southend is a tourist/holiday destination isn't it?
 
Seems the local 'news' outlet is a little tongue in cheek
http://southendnewsnetwork.com/news/hero-mum-smashes-paedophile-ring-on-southend-high-street/

I do like the story
http://southendnewsnetwork.com/news...-seafront-is-accused-of-being-a-photographer/

A visiting paedophile in Southend called for police assistance earlier today after a concerned parent mistook him for a photographer. Mervyn Voo, 38, allegedly dialled 999 to ask for help when a mother of three young children approached him to ask for advice about the proper use of lens filters when shooting images outdoors.

Mr Voo said: ‘I was just standing around and minding my own business, when suddenly I was approached by a young mother who saw that I was holding a Canon 5D with a 70-300mm EF-S lens with Optical Image Stabilisation – she jumped to conclusions and thought that I was a seasoned professional photographer. She asked me if I thought that a polarising filter would be a good idea when trying to get the best possible photos of her children in very bright sunlight, and to be honest I don’t have a clue about this kind of thing and it made me feel very uncomfortable. I called 999 at this point and an officer was on the scene very quickly, and this was a relief as within a few minutes I was surrounded by parents who were looking for advice about lenses, apertures, high-speed memory cards and digital after effects.’

A spokesperson for local police added: ‘We arrived and immediately questioned all parents at the scene, and they were all sent on their way as no offences had taken place. We would like to remind the public that it can be very distressing to be mistaken for a photographer, and this sort of mindless accusation has the potential to ruin someone’s life.’
 
Last edited:
Scarey though, imagine the mob.
The vigilante group prevented the innocent trio from moving on and summoned the police. They seized the men's phones, and one of the mob uploaded photos of them to Facebook, boasting she had ‘smashed a paedophile ring’. Her post has since been shared more than 13,000 times.

So did the police do anything about illegal detention, threatening behaviour. Why isn't the stupid person who posted all over facebook identified?
 
Nothing like a bit of justification. The police said they found nothing wrong and no specific child images, just scenes, but according to one report a mum insisted there were images of her child on a phone.

https://reportuk.org/2016/04/11/hap...ante-mums-accusing-them-of-being-paedophiles/

But one mum claimed there were seven pictures of her daughter, aged three, on one of the phones.

She wrote: “For the minority of people calling me disgusting!!!!! This could have easily been ur children and u all make it sound like that is ok!!!!! “If that is that case u don”t deserve them .. a child”s protection is priority to me and mine was singled out! I would breath my last breath for my kids so I will dam well detain a stranger wen they have 7-10 pictures of my 3 year old!! No surrondings (sic) just her.”

The mum has received a mixture of harsh criticism and glowing support from people claiming it is a frequent occurrence in the area.

One woman wrote: “This has happened at Margate seafront several times! I”ve stopped going there to be honest, there were blatant groups of foreign men not dressed for the beach, no children, no families just there taking photos! “The police do nothing as they do it blatant, they can make out its an accident kids were in their photos.”

Another wrote: “This isn”t the first time someone has been caught taking pictures of the kids. And when police were called they never showed up.
“The fact that these women take things in to there own hands is because as mums we want to protect our children and the police do nothing to help with that.”
 
Byker28i said:
Seems the local 'news' outlet is a little tongue in cheek
http://southendnewsnetwork.com/news/hero-mum-smashes-paedophile-ring-on-southend-high-street/

I do like the story
http://southendnewsnetwork.com/news...-seafront-is-accused-of-being-a-photographer/

A visiting paedophile in Southend called for police assistance earlier today after a concerned parent mistook him for a photographer. Mervyn Voo, 38, allegedly dialled 999 to ask for help when a mother of three young children approached him to ask for advice about the proper use of lens filters when shooting images outdoors.

Mr Voo said: ‘I was just standing around and minding my own business, when suddenly I was approached by a young mother who saw that I was holding a Canon 5D with a 70-300mm EF-S lens with Optical Image Stabilisation – she jumped to conclusions and thought that I was a seasoned professional photographer. She asked me if I thought that a polarising filter would be a good idea when trying to get the best possible photos of her children in very bright sunlight, and to be honest I don’t have a clue about this kind of thing and it made me feel very uncomfortable. I called 999 at this point and an officer was on the scene very quickly, and this was a relief as within a few minutes I was surrounded by parents who were looking for advice about lenses, apertures, high-speed memory cards and digital after effects.’

A spokesperson for local police added: ‘We arrived and immediately questioned all parents at the scene, and they were all sent on their way as no offences had taken place. We would like to remind the public that it can be very distressing to be mistaken for a photographer, and this sort of mindless accusation has the potential to ruin someone’s life.’
Click to expand...

Just in case you were not aware that particular website is a satirical news site akin to thepoke or newsthump
 
ecoleman said:
It's not just UK society and we have social media to blame.
Click to expand...

I have to agree entirely, the amount of bull s*** you see going round the likes of Facebook is simply unbelievable...some of it so stupid you genuinely wonder about the mental capacity of the person sharing it
 
Last edited:
MWHCVT said:
I have to agree entirely, the amount of bull s*** you see going round the likes of Facebook is simply unbelievable...some of it so stupid you genuinely wonder about the metal capacity of the person sharing it
Click to expand...

Scrap merchants then :D
 
Don't see why it comes as a surprise to anyone, this is Essex after all. Here are some typical inhabitants of Southend giving a visitor their famous traditional welcome to the town (the lady was released from hospital in less than a week)...

26363059566_7a0309715f_b.jpg
 
Saw this on Facebook and one of my relatives actually defended the women!
Some stupid people just believe the paranoia they read
 
I was in Southend today with my camera, I can see the attraction for taking photos at the fountains. There were a few kids around enjoying the sun and the water spouts.
When did we as a society get so paranoid?
 
ancient_mariner said:
I stopped using facebook earlier this year after beginning to wonder whether many of the people I had connected with actually had mental illness - that's not entirely joking. :(
Click to expand...
Yes I know what you mean there
 
Byker28i said:
Nothing like a bit of justification. The police said they found nothing wrong and no specific child images, just scenes, but according to one report a mum insisted there were images of her child on a phone.

https://reportuk.org/2016/04/11/hap...ante-mums-accusing-them-of-being-paedophiles/

But one mum claimed there were seven pictures of her daughter, aged three, on one of the phones.

She wrote: “For the minority of people calling me disgusting!!!!! This could have easily been ur children and u all make it sound like that is ok!!!!! “If that is that case u don”t deserve them .. a child”s protection is priority to me and mine was singled out! I would breath my last breath for my kids so I will dam well detain a stranger wen they have 7-10 pictures of my 3 year old!! No surrondings (sic) just her.”

The mum has received a mixture of harsh criticism and glowing support from people claiming it is a frequent occurrence in the area.

One woman wrote: “This has happened at Margate seafront several times! I”ve stopped going there to be honest, there were blatant groups of foreign men not dressed for the beach, no children, no families just there taking photos! “The police do nothing as they do it blatant, they can make out its an accident kids were in their photos.”

Another wrote: “This isn”t the first time someone has been caught taking pictures of the kids. And when police were called they never showed up.
“The fact that these women take things in to there own hands is because as mums we want to protect our children and the police do nothing to help with that.”
Click to expand...

I hope that mother teaches her puppies better English than that she seems to possess herself! o_O
 
blakester said:
I was in Southend today with my camera, I can see the attraction for taking photos at the fountains. There were a few kids around enjoying the sun and the water spouts.
When did we as a society get so paranoid?
Click to expand...

Back in the 80s there was a book called 'Photographing Children' which was essentially about candid photography of children. If anybody went to publishers with a concept like that today they would be very quickly shown the door.
 
This whole idea 'photographers are either paedophiles or terrorists or maybe even both is getting ridiculous'. I have done street photography for years and would be out and about as a single male with a camera. Most people don't react or maybe even don't see the camera but you have to be mindful other peoples thought process about your intentions isn't the one you have. Sadly many people are stupid and go for the obvious target 'man with a camera/someone with something unusual about their appearance' whilst the real intelligent scheming paedophile slips through the crowd unnoticed. What must those tourists think of our stupid country with beyond its fair share of lynch mob mentality braying morons. Just like the time a few years ago when the same type of folk couldn't differentiate between a paediatrician and a paedophile. Whilst these guys could show their shots of tourist attractions to prove their innocence, I wonder what the reaction would have been if they were street photographers? I always avoid kids in my shots for obvious reasons, but even trying to explain photos of adults could be difficult and lost on those with no sense of art and brains the size a walnut.
 
The stupid thing is why would anyone who was trying to sneak pictures of kids walk around with a DSLR? Its the same argument for security, why would you take your D800 to shoot photos of building in London if you were covertly scoping out security... madness.
 
Byker28i said:
Nothing like a bit of justification. The police said they found nothing wrong and no specific child images, just scenes, but according to one report a mum insisted there were images of her child on a phone.

https://reportuk.org/2016/04/11/hap...ante-mums-accusing-them-of-being-paedophiles/

But one mum claimed there were seven pictures of her daughter, aged three, on one of the phones.

She wrote: “For the minority of people calling me disgusting!!!!! This could have easily been ur children and u all make it sound like that is ok!!!!! “If that is that case u don”t deserve them .. a child”s protection is priority to me and mine was singled out! I would breath my last breath for my kids so I will dam well detain a stranger wen they have 7-10 pictures of my 3 year old!! No surrondings (sic) just her.”

The mum has received a mixture of harsh criticism and glowing support from people claiming it is a frequent occurrence in the area.

One woman wrote: “This has happened at Margate seafront several times! I”ve stopped going there to be honest, there were blatant groups of foreign men not dressed for the beach, no children, no families just there taking photos! “The police do nothing as they do it blatant, they can make out its an accident kids were in their photos.”

Another wrote: “This isn”t the first time someone has been caught taking pictures of the kids. And when police were called they never showed up.
“The fact that these women take things in to there own hands is because as mums we want to protect our children and the police do nothing to help with that.”
Click to expand...

The same mother probably has images of her children plastered all over her "public" Facebook page.

I had it happen to me years ago when taking pictures of my teenage niece for her, shooting in a local park I found myself facing outraged mothers and an off duty copper who tried to "seize" my camera.
He got told to bugger off when he started with the threats and nastiness such as threatening to have my home raided etc.
 
andyscott said:
Don't worry the kiddies will be safely looked after tonight by Uncle Ron while mam and dad are in the pub. Family members never abuse children, its always pesky photographers.
Click to expand...
A serious situation and topic, but this made me nearly snort my morning cuppa out my nose!
 
chrism_scotland said:
The stupid thing is why would anyone who was trying to sneak pictures of kids walk around with a DSLR? Its the same argument for security, why would you take your D800 to shoot photos of building in London if you were covertly scoping out security... madness.
Click to expand...
So you're saying anyone who has gone "mirrorless" is either a P**** or terrorist ? :whistle:
 
alexkidd said:
Wow, if this is legit then that sucks :/
Click to expand...

Reported in many of the papers yesterday - unfortunately it's legit.
I don't have social media but apparently the have a go 'hero woman' is attracting a lot of comments
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top