I locked myself in a toilet for four days after paedophile hunters mistakenly accused me in sting

"My life is ruined," says a Penwortham barber and dad-of-three who was wrongly accused of being a paedophile in a sting.

The day my life fell apart

On a cold winter's afternoon in early January, family man Shiz Hussain was parking up outside his barber shop in Leyland Road when his door was flung open and he was dragged into the street.

He was pinned against a brick wall and surrounded by two men and two women who told him to hand over his phone.

"I thought I was being mugged," says Shiz. "They looked like gangsters."

"Are you Shiz the barber?" asked one of the men, as people in the street stopped to watch the drama unfold.

"Why are you interested in little girls? You a dirty paedo!?," said the leader of the self-styled 'child online safety team' - a group of vigilantes who seek to expose 'predators' targeting children on social media.

Shiz's teenage son was watching helplessly as his dad was grabbed, restrained and forced to hand over his phone.

"As soon as they accused me of those things, I felt a bit of relief because I knew they'd got the wrong person," says Shiz.

"I knew it would only be a matter of time before they realised I wasn't who they were looking for and it would all be over."

Sadly, it was only the beginning of a 'living nightmare' which was Shiz's life for the next two months.

Police were called and Shiz was handcuffed and taken into custody where he spent the next 24 hours in a cell before being grilled by officers.

"I will never forget their faces," says Shiz. "They looked at me like I was a piece of dirt. They had already made up their minds about me. It was then I realised this wasn't going to be as simple as saying, "you've got the wrong man".

"They would ask me over and over again, "why did you do it?", "why are you attracted to young girls?"

"There was none of this 'innocent until proven guilty' stuff. It's like everything I told them fell on deaf ears. They just kept repeating the same things, accusing me, trying to get me to confess to something I hadn't done."

They broke my family

Shiz was later released on bail on condition he would not come into contact with any children.

He was unable to return home to his wife and three kids or stay with relatives. Instead, he was left to return to his barber shop where he holed up in a tiny toilet room for four days fearing gangs would break into his shop and attack him.

"I locked myself in that toilet with just a pair of scissors to protect me and I didn't come out for four days.

"When I did come out, I was in a very dark place."

"My family shunned me, even my best mate shared the video of the live sting, and I couldn't phone my wife and kids because the police had seized my phones and devices.

"I was completely alone. My head was wrecked. In 24 hours, my life had fallen apart and no one was there to help me.

"The worst thing was not being believed by my family. That really hurt, it still stings and I'm finding it very hard to forgive them," says Shiz, with tears in his eyes.

"Social services even visited my 13-year-old daughter at school and asked her all these horrible questions - did your dad ever abuse you? You can tell us, you don't need to protect him, you're safe. Everyone at the school knew, the teachers and kids. They were saying nasty things like 'your dad's a nonce, he's a peado!'

"One night, my teenage son was at home when the police came knocking. They were banging on the door so hard he thought they were a gang out to get me. He was so scared he jumped out the window to get away and cracked his head open.

"The worst thing was not being able to protect my kids. I couldn't be there for them. I felt frustrated, angry, how could this even be happening? How was this real?

"A few nights later, I went to the bridge over the river. I couldn't go on. I had no strength left. I couldn't see a way forward. I had no faith that the police would help me. They were more interested in proving I was guilty than trying to find out the truth.

"I felt like I must be guilty of something for this to happen to me, but I kept reminding myself, "you haven't done anything wrong".

"I had nowhere to go, nobody to help me and I was very close to giving up.

"But I knew I had God and my faith gave me strength. I'm glad I didn't step off that bridge because a few days later I got a call from my sister which changed everything."

I was framed but my accusers helped clear my name

"I picked up the phone and heard my sister laughing," says Shiz, smiling.

"I said, "what's going on!? What's so funny?"

"She sends this screenshot of a Facebook post from the paedophile hunters.

"It says, 'We can confirm Shiz the barber is innocent!'

Overcome with emotion, Shiz has to take a few deep breaths and a few hard swallows before he can continue.

"They had found the real person who had cloned my Facebook account and tried to frame me. They got him arrested. I couldn't believe it. They had a picture of him and I recognised him from years ago.

"He had a vendetta against me because of a falling out we had over a business matter years ago in Bolton. I've been having problems with fake Facebook accounts claiming to be me for a few years, but I had no idea it was him.

Victim, not a predator

Rumours of Shiz being a paedophile - because of the fake profile - had circulated online. He was not live streamed or named as a paedophile by the Child Online Safety Team based in Newcastle.

"The hunters put a big post up telling everyone I was innocent and to leave me alone. I still feel anger at what they did to me, but I forgive them.

"I respect what they do, when they get the bad guys, but this time they got the wrong man and they ruined my life.

"I have to forgive everyone. My family, who shunned me, the hunters and I even forgive the man who tried to frame me.

"What else can I do? I don't have the strength to hate them anymore. It's taken so much from me, I replay everything in my head all day. It never goes away.

"I don't know whether I'll ever be the same again, people will always look at me and wonder. I'll never be free of this judgement. I've had gangs of kids come up to me and call me filthy names. Everyone in Preston, Blackburn and Bolton know what's happened. I'm afraid to go outside, and only go out if I have to.

"I'm still not ready to speak with my family, apart from my sister and brother-in-law. How could they not believe me? How could they think I was capable of doing something like that? I hope I can one day be part of the family again, but it is going to take time.

"But the people of Penwortham have been brilliant. I've had so many people popping into my shop, asking how I am, and looking out for me.

"This whole ordeal left me unable to work for nearly two months, I'm behind with my rent, but I'm back open now and I'm trying to move on.

"The good people of Penwortham, I can't thank them enough. All I can do now is try and move on. It'll always be part of my life - it plays over and over in my mind, I can't switch it off. But the worst has to be over for me now, doesn't it? It has to be."