#OpDeathEaters: Anonymous 'hunts paedophiles' on Friday 13th

The hacktivist collective Anonymous is promising a "nightmare on Elite Street" this Friday 13th, as it plans to march to the homes of people it says were involved in child sex abuse or their cover-up.

In its latest video address, the group said it had been working to expose "a club of elite paedophiles that have been torturing and murdering children for their own joy and entertainment."

As part of Operation Death Eaters, the group plans to march to the homes of some of those involved in this "nightmarish cover-up". It also said it would collect and publish information on the child sex scandals in Britain and around the world.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"These are people in positions of trust and authority and they are raping and torturing children. Politicians, religious figures, singers, actors, men and woman," the group said. "The long grotesque arm of this club knows no bounds."

"Friday 13 will see us become the nightmare on Elite Street. We will strike the same fear in the hearts of the Death Eaters as they strike into their victims," the group said. "To the people that do this: you think you are untouchable? You are wrong."

This form of cyber vigilantism raises concerns for law enforcement, as police warn it could jeopardise ongoing investigations. "It's fraught with so many difficulties," former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), Jim Gamble, told Sky News.

"Jumping to conclusions, sharing information that hasn't been verified and doing it in a mass public way is going to have a far bigger downside than the deterrents on the upside will be."

The National Crime Agency advised against any action which could endanger existing investigations and urged anyone with any information relating to child sexual exploitation or abuse to report it to them directly.

The Metropolitan Police is currently investigating the alleged murders of three boys by members of a paedophile ring of high-profile men in the 1970s and 80s.