Facebook Ordered to Remove Paedophile Monitoring Page - But Second One Appears

Facebook has been ordered to remove a page that monitors paedophiles after a convicted sex offender who features on it won a high court order.

Removal of the page, "Keeping our kids safe from predators", was ordered by a court in Northern Ireland on the grounds that some of its content could lead to harassment of the man and breached his human rights.

Pictures of the offender were uploaded to the page and there were several threatening comments beneath.

The page was removed but a second account, "Keeping our kids safe from predators 2" soon appeared on Facebook. Again, it featured pictures of convicted sex offenders.

One of the earliest posts by the page administrator reads: "Back 2 the start i go everything i shared from the last page is gone grrrrrrrrrrrr :( just not fair at all."

It is not clear if the second page was set up by the same person responsible the initial page, which had gathered more than 5,000 "likes".

After the court ruling, a spokesperson for Facebook said: "We are considering our next steps in light of the court judgment and we have nothing further to add at this stage."

The man who took the case to court and who cannot be named was jailed for six years for sex offences committed more than two decades ago. His lawyers are seeking disclosure of the identity of the man who set up the original page.

Justice McCloskey said: "Society has dealt with the plaintiff in accordance with the rule of law.

"He has been punished by incarceration and he is subject to substantial daily restrictions on his lifestyle."