Instagram condemned as Midland groomer jailed
Site is platform for paedophiles – judge
AJUDGE has accused Instagram of providing a platform for paedophiles after a Wolverhampton man groomed a 15-year-old girl online – before driving 150 miles to meet her.
Dominic Nielen-Groen sent a stream of messages on the social media site to the girl on a community site before meeting her at a play park in Seaton, East Devon.
The 39-year-old hugged her but she became alarmed when he tried to get her to suck a baby’s dummy.
She went home but he carried on sending messages, trying to set up a second meeting on the beach or at a nearby nature reserve.
A judge criticised Instagram as he jailed Dominic Nielen-Groen for 18 months at Exeter Crown Court for failing to hand over online messages between the pervert and his victim.
Computer engineer NielenGroen had used the name Papa
Bear on the community site, where the girl had attracted more than 3,000 followers in the space of a few weeks.
The court heard she had engaged in sexualised chat with older men and sold indecent images of herself, with payments through PayPal.
But her online activities had a traumatic effect on her, changing her from a model schoolgirl to persistent truant.
She also developed severe behavioural problems and had attempted to take her own life three times.
Police traced NielenGroen after the girl contacted detectives early this year.
Birmingham City University graduate Nielen-Groen, of Annan Road, Wolverhampton, denied meeting a child after grooming with the intention of committing a sexual offence but was convicted.
He was jailed by Recorder Mr Jonathan Barnes, who put him on the sex offenders register.
The judge criticised Instagram’s failure to hand over chat logs of the conversations between NielenGroen and the girl.
He said: “Sometimes these social media companies put misplaced loyalty to their customers before the administration of justice.” He claimed it was clear that the Instagram community site was widely used by paedophiles like Nielen-Groen.
He said: “You asserted the community had nothing to do with child sex. It may be there are adult members of the community who do not have paedophile tendencies.
“I am quite sure that many of the members, including you, join it because they have a sexual interest in children.”
Nielen-Groen claimed the girl had never told him her age and he believed her to be an adult.