Bismarck heir in trouble over paedo-trap TV

Stephanie zu Guttenberg, the glamorous wife of the German defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenburg and great granddaughter of Otto von Bismarck, founder of the German empire, has been criticised for her part in a TV show which entraps and exposes suspected internet paedophiles.
 
She is the co-presenter of Tatort Internet (Crime Scene Internet), which uses journalists pretending to be children to lure men looking for underage sex into a meeting with actors posing as the child and the mother.

The meetings are then secretly filmed and broadcast on the German channel RTL2.
 
This week a 61-year-old man who was outed as an alleged paedophile on the programme has disappeared after he was suspended from his job as manager of a Catholic youth centre. Police fear he may have taken his own life.

German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has warned that Tatort Internet undermines the law and could trigger vigilante action.
 
"There is the danger that innocents will be pilloried and damage caused, and the rule of law thrown out of balance," she said.
 
"The rule of law does not need public naming and shaming. We have to take care that there is no prejudgement before the justice system investigates. Our justice is extremely precious and we should preserve it."
 
But zu Guttenberg, who published a book last month about preventing child abuse called Schaut Nicht Weg (Don't Look Away), has defended the programme for protecting potential victims.
 
"It is important that one sends messages in such a way that they are understood," she said. "The broadcaster is trusted by families and those are the people we want to inform." ·