Greg Squire, a US undercover investigator for Homeland Security, has described the toll of tracking paedophiles on the dark web, working up to 18 hours a day to befriend abusers and rescue victims. His work is the subject of a new BBC Eye investigation, The Darkest Web, which followed him and a global team for seven years.
Squire, 50, recalls watching a video early in his career that showed a man raping a young girl. 'It looked like her soul left,' he said. That case fuelled his determination to rescue victims, despite the emotional cost. 'It upset me, but … do those emotions cripple you or fuel you?'
The dark web's child abuse forums are run like businesses, Squire says, with over a million active users. 'The currency is children,' he explains, noting that sites have round-the-clock management. He spends hours deep in these forums, never taking weekends off: 'The kids don’t get days off. Nor should you.'
A breakthrough case in 2014 involved a girl agents called Lucy. Images showed abuse from age seven, continuing into her teens. Electrical sockets in her bedroom indicated she lived in the US. After nine months of investigation, Squire and his colleagues identified and rescued her, bringing her abuser to justice.
Squire admits the work is like 'drinking poison', but says it is an honour to be one of the few who can make a difference. He believes society must confront these horrors: 'The children that suffer … they don’t have a choice.'
