Moment police drag paedophile from his home to protect him from baying mob outside

By MARK DUELL, DEPUTY CHIEF REPORTER (DIGITAL) Published: 01:00, 2 June 2026 | Updated: 01:29, 2 June 2026 This is the dramatic moment police extracted a paedophile from his home after it was surrounded by an angry crowd furious that he had returned to the property. Dozens of irate residents including mothers and children gathered outside the house in East Belfast last September, leaving the sex offender barricaded inside. The unnamed man had been removed from the home by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) the previous week - then returned against officers' advice. Footage showing police heading back to the property to get him out again features in new BBC documentary 'Peelers: The PSNI for Real' - coined the 'real Blue Lights'. BBC presenter Stephen Nolan joins officers at the scene and is also confronted by angry locals who call him a 'fat b*****d' and accuse him of talking down the area. As tensions continue to rise, officers formulate a plan inside the house with the force's Tactical Support Group (TSG) to get the man out and to safety in a police van. The incident begins with police in their car being called to the scene on the night of September 19, as they are told on the radio: 'There's allegedly people forcing entry.' An officer explains: 'This was a guy who was removed from the property last week. Police assisted his removal. The locals were protesting about him being there. PSNI officers travel with BBC presenter Stephen Nolan to the paedophile's house in Belfast An officer speaks with the sex offender inside the home as they prepare to get him to safety Stephen Nolan is confronted by the angry crowd outside, one of whom calls him a 'fat b******' The officers begin walking the man through the crowd as they try to make a pathway to the van 'He subsesquently since returned to the property against police advice. I called this, I called it last week. There's several persons trying to effect entry to the property.' Nolan, who is in the car, adds: 'The sex offender is trapped in his house, and with the crowd growing, the team need to get there quickly to make sure nobody gets hurt.' The officer tells Nolan that the group of 40 people 'want this guy out', adding that it will be a 'f***ing nightmare' and a 'f***ing disaster' to extract the man given the numbers who have gathered. One officer stands with Nolan 'because you're going to get a lot of heat here', and the presenter says: 'I'm terrified in the middle of this volatile environment and yet these young officers are calm. 'Adam and Tom start to deal with the crowd, and Nigel needs to make contact with the sex offender, trapped in his house.' Police try to push the crowd back and ask the call handler to speak with the man to tell him to let the officers inside the home. As Nolan is spotted, someone in the crowd shouts: 'Oh, there's the fat man now. What about bringing paedophiles into our area again?' Nolan asks them what is happening, and a protester tells him: 'He was put out last week, he's a paedophile, they've brought him back and the communitiy aren't having it.' The PSNI work out a stategy with the TSG, and an officer explains there is a 'railing with probably 10 or 15 women each side of it with prams'. He adds: 'They intend as we come up there, we're bottlenecking, so we'll probably need to clear that to then move him straight through, get him in this and get OTF.' Meanwhile Nolan faces the crowd, with one person telling him: 'You fat b*****d, f*** off'. Another says: 'You don't know what's going on in the f***ing streets.' A third shouts: 'You put this community down every chance you get. You sit up in your big f***ing house, put it down. Get yourself away the f*** back to your house.' Dozens of irate residents gather outside the house as officers attempt to lead the man to safety The clip features in new BBC series 'Peelers: The PSNI for Real' - coined the 'real Blue Lights' Officers eventually manage to get the man through the crowd and take him away in a police van An officer tries to get the protesters to co-operate and asks one of them to help, telling him: 'Can you try and pull everybody back to give me a chance to work here?' Inside the house, the man says he returned to the property last Friday and had not left the house since – even for food. He says: 'There's no possible discenerable way anyone could have knew I was here. Literally no way at all.' The officer tells him: 'OK, well I know you don't need me to tell you what the process is because you've lived through it a week ago, but we're probably at the point now where we can't come back here.' And the man replies: 'Yeah, pretty much. So I'm pretty much f***ed now. And I've really nowhere to go.' A member of the TSG says: 'We'll put a wedge in, bring him out in the centre. It's going to be pushing people away. You can get some of your officers behind me just to check our backs.' And an officer tells the crowd: 'Can we clear a way here, this has to be peaceful folks remember?' But a woman replies: 'How can it be peaceful? He was put out last week.' The officer inside the house then says to the man: 'So here's the brief, OK? A couple of TSG here. You're going to fall in behind them, Tactical Support Group. We're going to come behind you, they're going to escort you through, we're going to get in the truck, get offsite. Happy enough?' They tell the man to 'bend down, stay low' and 'keep your face covered and move nice and quickly'. The officer then says: 'Shout when you're ready. Ready? Let's go.' As they walk out of the house, there is angry shouting as police try to make a pathway through the protesters. 'One is heard telling them: 'Move out the way please, move out the way, move yourself, we're moving this way. Get out of our way. We're going to this van and you're standing in our way.' A shout of 'stay away from our f***ing children' can be heard amid shouting and cheering as the man is bundled into the police van. Stephen Nolan appears in the new BBC series 'Peelers: The PSNI for Real' which is on iPlayer Stephen Nolan interviews Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton as part of the documentary With the man gone, some of the crowd then want to speak to Nolan. One tells him: 'We're talking about the justice system. Another predator walked free from court today with indecent images of kids. What did he get? 30 hours of community service. 'He was removed from his home last week and he's moved back in' Nolan asks what should be done, and a man says: 'Rehouse them somewhere altogether.' When Nolan asks them where they should go, another man replies: 'Jail. Put them all on the same wing and away they go, let them pull the wobblers off each other. I don't care what they do as long as they're not here looking at our kids.' When someone tells Nolan he lives 'on a wee fancy island away far', he responds: 'Hold on a minute, because it f***ing winds me up, right? I came from a working class estate. 'Here's the second thing. See my big fancy house. Where the f*** I am standing on a Thursday night. Where am I? I'm here.' After speaking with the crowd, Nolan leaves with the officers and says from the back of the patrol car: 'That was a moment I'll not forget where you have a local community and they're so angry.' An officer tells him: 'We saw it last week Stephen, we were in the same situation, I've been in the same situation twice this week where crowds gather on the street. It's largely peaceful but ultimately it's difficult. 'We're caught in a political space that really policing probably doesn't belong in, but we've people to keep safe on both sides, and those are so volatile, they can really escalate in the blink of an eye. 'And ultimately it's about trying to come out of them with everybvody kept safe. It's really difficult, really tough to police.' Back at the police station, Nolan asks another officer whether he 'contained the situation alright', but she replies: 'I think it's just your presence in general people don't like.' And he tells her: 'Thanks very much!' Speaking about the incident, a PSNI spokesperson said: 'Police received a report that a crowd of people had gathered outside an address in Belfast just before 8pm on Thursday, September 19. 'One person was escorted from the area in order to ensure that there would be no breach of the peace. Enquiries are ongoing.' 'Peelers: The PSNI For Real' is available to stream on BBC iPlayer  No comments have so far been submitted. 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