A paedophile hunter who created a vigilante group on Facebook claiming to expose sex offenders has been handed a court fine.

And police warned that such groups could undermine their investigations into child sex offences - and risked ruining innocent people’s lives.

Dylan James Rice, aged 21, of The Bretney, Jurby, accused a man of rape in posts on ’Freedom of Safety IoM’.

The group, for which Rice is an administrator, has 2,169 members and claims its aim is ’protecting children from online predators in the Isle of Man’.

Rice wrote posts claiming a man was a rapist and saying: ’We need to make sure he is punished’ and ’I want him torn to shreds’, although he added that he meant mentally rather than physically.

In court on Tuesday, Rice pleaded guilty to an offence of sending a message which was grossly offensive or of a menacing character.

He was fined just £750.

But High Bailiff Jayne Hughes warned him that she would have likely jailed him if the offence had been charged differently and her powers had allowed it.

She told him: ’This was the worst type of cowardice and use of social media, putting people in danger. Your behaviour is completely unacceptable.’

Prosecuting advocate Hazel Carroon told the court that police received a complaint from a man on December 12 who said that Rice had been posting in the group accusing him of rape.

Rice was said to have created the group aiming to expose alleged paedophiles and sex offenders. The complainant said that Rice had named him in a post and called him a rapist.

In a post, Rice claimed the man had ’manipulated and continuously raped’ a woman over seven months.

He also said that the man had held the woman at knifepoint.

Ms Carroon said that the woman concerned had been spoken to by police on multiple occasions but did not want to make any complaint.

Police arrested Rice and he gave ’no comment’ responses to all questions but, when asked about the woman, claimed that she had told him to post the allegations on Facebook.

Ms Carroon said that Rice had been advised by police multiple times to remove the group.

Defence advocate Michael Mudge asked for credit to be given for his client’s guilty plea and said: ’This was a misguided attempt to help what he thought was a victim.

’He realises now he shouldn’t have posted any message and should have contacted police.

’He is remorseful. He hasn’t been on that Facebook page since his arrest.

’The offence is one punishable by a fine. He is a family man and recently signed on for income support with his partner.’

Rice was also ordered to pay £125 prosecution costs which he will pay, along with the fine, at a rate of £10 per week, deducted from benefits.

Police declined to comment on this specific case.

But a spokesman said: ’We understand the public have concerns about these types of crime but they need to be investigated by the police.

’Setting up Facebook pages or even publishing information on alleged offenders and offences can impact on the police’s ability to investigate such matters.

’It can mean that evidence is lost or altered, it could mean that we are actually unable to investigate a matter.

’Persons making such posts can be breaking the law. Also such posts can have a massive impact on those named and could result in innocent people having their lives ruined or even worse.’