A SO-CALLED paedophile hunter has slammed the authorities for taking him to court after he was cleared of holding a child sex offender against his will.

Shane Brannigan, 41, had been on trial for the false imprisonment of Bournemouth man Andrew Vaughan, who had been caught sending lewd messages to children.

After being cleared by a jury Mr Brannigan hit out at the police for prosecuting him.

Mr Brannigan said he did what was ‘morally right’ and insisted the case never should have gone to court.

He also thanked the jury, who sided with him after less than an hour of deliberation at Bournemouth Crown Court.

An emotional Mr Brannigan said: “I’m relieved that the jury sided with me and not a man like that.

“This never should have come to court because I did not illegally detain him. As far as I am concerned I never had any case to answer.

“It came down to common sense really and the authorities don’t seem to have any of that.

“At the end of the day I did what was morally right and stood up for vulnerable children.

“The most important people in our society are our babies, our children and our young people - they are our future and need to be protected.”

During the trial it was alleged that Mr Brannigan carried out a ‘Wild West-style’ citizen’s arrest of Mr Vaughan who he had caught in a sting operation.

Mr Vaughan, 48, sent lewd videos of himself to what he thought was an underage girl when it fact it was Mr Brannigan’s organisation.

Although Mr Vaughan was later convicted of child sex offences, Mr Brannigan was accused of going over the top when confronting him.

The ‘vigilante’ was said to have put Mr Vaughan in a headlock and punched him in the ribs and head while he held him in his car for 30 minutes until the police arrived.

Mr Brannigan was arrested and charged with false imprisonment.

During the trial, which lasted three days, the court heard that Mr Brannigan was an ‘anti-authoritarian’ who ‘hated the police’.

In extracts read out from his voluntary police interview he said: “I do not value authority yet alone respect it.

“I am anti-authoritarian, I hate the police, I hate the government and I hate the system in general.

“My plan is to bring the f*****g lot down.”

Since the incident, which took place in Bournemouth outside Mr Vaughan’s Bournemouth home in October 2017, Mr Brannigan, from Pontefract, West Yorks, has given up paedophile hunting.

He is now a child protection campaigner who puts pressure on local authorities to catch child sex offenders.