Kingston Uni urges Metro to run "Xbox paedophile predators" correction

The Professor behind the study that led to Metro’s sensational Xbox paedophile predators” last week has stated that the paper misinterpreted its findings.

Furthermore, professor of criminology and director of research in criminology and co-director of the centre for abuse and trauma studies at Kingston University Julia Davidson has asked that the paper run a correction.

It has so far refused to do so, despite the urges from what Davidson describes as a displeased” Microsoft.

"The focus of the study was not online gaming," she told Eurogamer. "It was just very unfortunate that the Metro misunderstood some of the central findings.

"Anywhere where kids hang out in large numbers on the internet provides the opportunity for offenders to search for them, and that includes social networking sites, chat rooms, peer-to-peer networks.

"There was some evidence around PlayStation and Xbox, but very little to be honest with you. It was referred to in one or two interviews. But if you read the Metro article you’ll see it’s muddled.

We put our data out in good faith and have no control over how it’s interpreted. Sometimes you get sensible coverage and sometimes you get coverage that’s frankly not very sensible."