A man who took a picture of his son while they were out shopping has been accused of being a paedophile and threatened with arrest.
Kevin Geraghty-Shewan had taken four-year-old Ben to the Bridges Shopping Centre in Sunderland to spend £10 the boy had been given as a treat.
The dad told Sky News: “Ben spotted a children’s ride which had a train on it and wanted to have a go because he’s obsessed with trains.
“When he got on my wife suggested we take a picture of him.
“I took the picture on my phone and suddenly this security guard came up and told me it wasn’t allowed because I could be a paedophile.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Man-Suspected-Of-Being-A-Paedophile-For-Taking-A-Photo-Of-His-Own-Son-While-Out-Shopping/Article/201002415560029?lpos=UK_News_First_UK_News_Feature_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15560029_Man_Suspected_Of_Being_A_Paedophile_For_Taking_A_Photo_Of_His_Own_Son_While_Out_Shopping 11:05pm UK, Friday February 26, 2010
Roddy Mansfield, Sky News Online
A man who took a picture of his son while they were out shopping was accused of being a paedophile and threatened with arrest.
//CREATE PLAYLIST var playlist = new Object(); playlist.id = "Latest_Video"; playlist.defaultMediaId = 'item1_id'; playlist.items = new Array(); var contentObject = new Object(); contentObject.fileSize = ""; contentObject.type = "video/x-flv"; contentObject.medium = "video"; contentObject.url = "http://static1.sky.com//feeds/skynews/latest/flash/ACT-BB-FR-PAEDO-ACCUSED-DAD-LIVE.flv"; contentObject.duration = "1:15"; var mediaObject = new Object(); mediaObject.title = "'Paedophile Suspect' For Taking Son's Photo" mediaObject.description = "" mediaObject.playerUrl = "http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/video/Dad-Suspected-Of-Being-Paedophile-For-Taking-Picture-Of-His-Son/Video/201002415560624?lpos=video_Article_Body_Copy_Region_0&lid=VIDEO_15560624_Dad_Suspected_Of_Being_Paedophile_For_Taking_Picture_Of_His_Son"; mediaObject.thumbnail = "/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2010/Feb/Week4/15560631.jpg"; mediaObject.content = contentObject; mediaObject.rating = "0"; var item1 = { title: ''Paedophile Suspect' For Taking Son's Photo', guid: '2203873', author: '', description: '', pubDate: 'Feb 26, 2010', enclosure: [], media: mediaObject } playlist.items.push(item1); // END CREATE PLAYLIST var flashvars = { settingsUrl: "/sky-news/app/skynewsflash/data/config.xml", auto_play: "false", unique_id: "15560029", attrib_url: "http://news.sky.com", ad_channel: "2169867", ad_alias: "pre_skynews_skynews_Home_UK_News", tracking_account: "DM530320KARC", playerHeight: "225", playerWidth: "400", brandedPlayBtn: "false", channel_key: "News", embed_src: "http://news.sky.com/sky-news/app/skynewsflash/OBU_Player_30.swf", type: "ila", smoothing: "true" }; var params = { allowfullscreen : "true" }; var attributes = { id: "obuPlayer", name: "obuPlayer" }; swfobject.embedSWF("/sky-news/app/skynewsflash/OBU_Player_30.swf", "flashcontent", "400", "225", "9.0.115", "../swf/expressInstall.swf", flashvars, params, attributes); function getFlashMovie() { if (navigator.appName.indexOf("Microsoft") != -1) { return window["obuPlayer"]; } else { return document["obuPlayer"]; } } function playerIsReady() { getFlashMovie()._loadPlaylist("", playlist); }
Kevin Geraghty-Shewan had taken four-year-old Ben to the Bridges Shopping Centre in Sunderland to spend £10 the boy had been given as a treat.
He told Sky News: "Ben spotted a children's ride which had a train on it and wanted to have a go because he's obsessed with trains.
"When he got on my wife suggested we take a picture of him.
"I took the picture on my phone and suddenly this security guard came up and told me it wasn't allowed because I could be a paedophile.
"I told him Ben was my own son. But he said I couldn't prove it. He said there is a real problem with paedophiles and that if I didn't like it, he'd call the manager.
The picture Kevin took of son Ben at the Bridges shopping centre, Sunderland
"A few minutes later a policeman walked in and approached me, so they must have been tracking me on the CCTV.
"He said he'd received a complaint that a man matching my description was taking pictures of children and wanted my name and address.
"I told him it was ridiculous because it was my own son. He then started asking me what I was doing in Sunderland, asked for my name and address and told me he had the right to delete my pictures.
"I got annoyed and raised my voice a bit, then he threatened me with arrest for breach of the peace."
The security guard who 'caught' Kevin taking a picture of Ben
Mr Geraghty-Shewan was so outraged by the incident, he posted a picture of the security guarde on his website.
When contacted by Sky News the Bridges said in a statement: "We take the safety at all our shopping centres very seriously.
"We do ask our security guards across the estate to be diligent in implementing our security measures, which includes monitoring photography in our centres.
"Unfortunately on this occasion what should have been a simple polite conversation led to a misunderstanding and we apologise for any offence caused.
"It is always our aim to implement our security procedures with the minimum of fuss and disruption to our shoppers."
Comments
2010-02-2723:09:42 Ya know, If some 'creeper' was taking photos of my kids, I'd be grateful for this. If it was myself taking photos of my kids, I'd be … depends on how it was handled. Ask the kid, "Is this your dad?".. No = call cops, yes = ok, just checking…
2010-02-2806:20:47 it's sad that things have to come to this…whatever happened to the age of innocence, when you could take pics without having to worry about being branded a perv or whatever…they could of simply asked the child to verify that it was his parent…profiling may help in some instances but it is wrong in sooo many others…i've been pulled over a few times due to profiling when i was younger…i'm just glad i never do anything stupid…
2010-02-2820:31:34 A shopping mall security guard has no powers of arrest - nor right to erase pics from a phone - and I believe the cops cant do that either.
I also believe the childs mother (and photographers wife) was also present.
I guess this is a case of 'being over zealous' or 'cant do right for doing wrong' but as said - there are ways of handling a situation.
In this day n age of everyone being afraid of being accused of something like child abuse - is it any wonder scout groups etc are losing adult membership/leaders faster than they can recruit.
Making a fuss like this wont make the problem 'go away' and personally - i dont think its any more of a problem now than it was 200years ago - but thanks to the modern media - public awareness is now that much greater.
Let kids grow up - if you wrap em up in cotton wool, not only do you smother them, but they wont learn for themselves (maybe THIS is why kids of today are apparently so much more unruly and disrespectful than not too many years ago)
MTFBWY - A
2010-03-0212:17:40 good point about being overprotective…also about the media making things much more "in your face"
2010-03-0419:23:17 i am a kid and if my dad was called a pedophile i would tell that person how much of an a-hole they were being and say he was my dad.