(REUTERS/Valentin Flauraud/Files)

A convicted Irish sex offender has won a court case against Facebook, forcing the social network to remove a page that identifies pedophiles.

A British judge told Facebook Ireland it has 72 hours to take down the page "Keeping our kids safe from predators."

The case started when the convicted child-molester, identified only as XY in the courts, found his picture, along with threatening comments, on the page.

One comment said: "Put him down like an animal."

He'd been convicted of, and served time for, multiple counts of indecent assault, gross indecency with a child and inciting a child to commit an act of gross indecency.

He said the site amounted to harassment and that he feared the site's users would hunt him down.

The judge agreed, noting that society had already dealt with the man's crimes via incarceration, and that he still faces numerous restrictions in his daily life.