London - A paedophile who targeted thousands of children online has been jailed in the UK’s first prosecution for grooming via a phone app popular with youngsters.
Glen Friend, 28, was jailed after he persuaded a nine-year-old girl to expose herself on the social media app Live.me.
Detectives believe the predator, who has convictions dating back to the age of 15 for sexual abuse and possessing child abuse images, was targeting young girls on the video broadcasting app.
Friend, from Walthamstow in east London, was found to be following 2 850 Live.me users, the majority of whom were young girls.
The paedophile regularly breached orders relating to a conviction in 2009 for sexual activity with a child and was banned from contacting children online or via social media after being caught with child abuse images.
He was jailed in December for flouting the orders but just weeks after his release in April this year, Friend was back online contacting a nine-year-old girl, who was persuaded to expose herself.
The girl, who posted the video online as part of a game of dare, was horrified to discover it was viewed by almost 300 users, including a group of ten paedophiles who police are still trying to trace.
Officers discovered Friend had been using Live.me to contact young children and had 355 followers on the site, some of whom are suspected paedophiles.
The video of the girl remained online until Live.me was requested to take it down by police.
Friend was sentenced to four years on Monday at Snaresbrook Crown Court after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.
He was also given a two-year extended supervision order.
The landmark prosecution comes after a Daily Mail investigation last month revealed children are being targeted on Live.me by paedophiles.
Youngsters are bombarded with obscene requests and promised ‘likes’ and virtual gifts that can be swapped for cash if they broadcast themselves.
A spokesperson for the app said: "The safety of our users is a top priority for Live.me. Our community guidelines reflect our zero-tolerance policy towards any indecent or inappropriate behaviour, and we take all allegations of violations against those guidelines very seriously."