Judge attacks Instagram for shielding abuser’s chat logs

A JUDGE has criticised Instagram for failing to hand over a paedophile’s chat logs as he accused the technology giant of prioritising “misplaced loyalty” over justice.

Recorder Jonathan Barnes lambasted the social network after Dominic Nielen-groen, 39, groomed a 15-year-old girl on the site via a sexchat community called Daddy Dom Little Girl (DDLG). The computer engineer was caught after he drove more than 160 miles from his Wolverhampton home to meet the girl, who later contacted police.

Speaking about Instagram’s failure to provide records of the conversations between the two, Mr Barnes said: “Sometimes these social media companies put misplaced loyalty to their customers before the administration of justice.”

The court heard that Nielen-groen used the name Papa Bear on the Instagram community, which was “widely used by paedophiles”, and pestered the girl with messages. He later drove to meet her at a play park in Seaton, Devon, where he hugged her and tried to force her to suck on a baby’s dummy.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had more than 3,000 followers and had sent pictures of her body in exchange for money.

Exeter Crown Court heard her online activities had a traumatic effect on her, changing her from a model student predicted to get top GCSE grades to a truant who missed more than half of her final term at school.

Nielen-groen was found guilty of grooming a child with the intention of committing a sexual offence and jailed for 18 months.

He was also put on the sex offenders’ register and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Instagram blocked all hashtags associated with the DDLG community earlier this month following an investigation by The Daily Telegraph into how it was being exploited by paedophiles. A spokesman for the company said: “Keeping young people safe on our platforms is a top priority”.