Action by so-called paedophile hunters led to a man being arrested in Huddersfield town centre.

The man was detained by members of a group called Catching Online Predators (COP for short) who claimed on their Facebook page that he was trying to meet a 13-year-old girl.

The drama unfolded on Southgate next to the big Sainsbury’s store at Shorehead on Sunday evening.

The man can be seen being held and forcibly detained by two members of the group on the road next to Sainsbury’s petrol station leading to the ring road.

They ask if he has any weapons but he shakes his head and then they formally place him under arrest, saying to him: “Do you understand why we have stopped you?”

Logo for group called Catching Online Predators (COP)

After the man was arrested and taken away by police the group posted: “Stay away from his family and property and let the police and CPS do their investigations without any unnecessary complications.”

On their Facebook page they state: “Our team will identify online predators praying on our children. We also act on any predators brought to our attention via parents or general public.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “Police were called to an address on Southgate, Huddersfield, at 8.30pm on Sunday, April 15.

“A 41-year-man was arrested on suspicion of causing or inciting a child aged under 16 to engage in sexual activity.”

The man has since been released but is still being investigated.

Man detained by paedophile hunters near Huddersfield town centre

Information from so-called paedophile hunters was used to press charges more than 150 times last year, a BBC investigation recently revealed.

But despite the figures, police forces have backed their own stance that vigilantes should stop taking the law into their own hands.

Paedophile hunting groups operate by using fake social media profiles of children to strike up contact with suspects before confronting them face to face and alerting police.

Several men in and around Huddersfield have been charged with sex offences following stings from such groups in the past year, including binman Robert Pearson, 56, from Honley who was jailed for eight months in March when it was found he had been texting what he thought was a 14-year-old boy and arranging to meet him for sex.

Robert Pearson was jailed for eight months after being caught by vigilantes

Last November Mark Shah, 43, of Stoneyhurst Avenue, Dewsbury, was jailed for three years and two months after he arranged to meet a girl at Dewsbury Railway Station who was in fact a member of the group Silent Justice.