YouTube restores Southampton 'paedophile hunter' videos

Stephen Dure, also known as Stevie Trap, said he was "annoyed" at being banned for a second time

YouTube has reinstated the account of a self-styled paedophile hunter, just hours after removing it because of "bullying" and "threatening" content.

The channel contains videos of citizen's arrests made in Hampshire by Stephen Dure, who is also known as Stevie Trap.

Earlier, Mr Dure said he was "annoyed" that the account had been banned by YouTube for a second time.

YouTube said it had acted quickly to correct its "mistake".

In a statement, the company said: "With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call."

Earlier YouTube posted a message on Mr Dure's channel, stating: "This account has been terminated due to multiple or severe violations of YouTube's policy prohibiting content designed to harass, bully or threaten."

In September, Mr Dure was jailed for 15 weeks for falsely accusing a man of grooming teenagers.

His wrongly-accused victim said he had been sacked and his home had been attacked as a result.

Mr Dure featured in a regional edition of a BBC Inside Out programme in 2017

Mr Dure, from Southampton, said he had not been told why the channel had been deleted and then reinstated.

He said: "I have a feeling that the attention from the media has played a big part in me getting my channel back."

The campaigner said he would create his own website and app to host the videos in future.

Mr Dure appeared in a BBC Inside Out programme in 2017, when he explained how he posed as children on the internet to "trap" sex offenders.

His YouTube and Facebook pages have shown videos of him confronting the suspected offenders after arranging meetings.

The TRAP Community Facebook page has more than 240,000 followers.