Metro Tunnel executive Luke Diggins caught with child abuse images

A Metro Tunnel hotshot who offered Asian females big bucks to supply him with nudes of under-aged girls was busted with the vile images at Melbourne Airport.

Rail Projects Victoria Metro Tunnel creative strategy lead Luke Diggins outside County Court after being released on a recognizance release order.

A senior Metro Tunnel executive who persistently sought naked photos of underaged girls during Covid lockdowns has avoided jail.

Luke Diggins, creative strategy lead for Rail Projects Victoria Metro Tunnel since 2018, fronted the County Court on Thursday after being busted with child abuse material as he returned from a holiday in Asia in October 2022.

He was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment but was released on good behaviour after Judge Anne Hassan ruled exceptional circumstances existed due to a delay in the court process.

Diggins engaged with two women on social media platforms, including WhatsApp, between May 2021 and August 2022 and 12 child abuse images of girls as young as five were found on his phone when he was arrest at Melbourne Airport.

Senior public servant Luke Diggins persistently sought nude pictures of under-aged females during his online chat with females.

Judge Anne Hassan said Diggins asked a 20-year-old woman from Jakarta if she knew any girls or had any friends who she could ask to take nude pics of in exchange for money in an online chat.

He then asked “what about your sister” to which she said no but Diggins persisted with his request and continued to offer increasing amounts of money.

Judge Hassan said Diggins continued to send messages to the 20-year-old, saying: “I really want to see an under 18 girl just naked, no sex or anything like that. Just their body. It’s hard in real life where I am.”

Diggins continued to ask her if she could get real schoolgirls in her country for pictures or underwear pictures and that he would pay for them.

In a follow-up message, he queried “any younger or incest”, and asked the woman to “sleep with her relative or show a nude pic of a younger one”.

In another online conversation with a separate woman, Diggins offered to pay $100 for a nude photo shoot and asked if she had a younger sister or cousin.

Diggins told a psychologist he experienced depressive symptoms during the Covid lockdowns but didn’t seek treatment.

He said he felt alone and isolated and started pushing boundaries and exploring taboo topics in his online conversations with people.

Metro Tunnel senior executive Luke Diggins sought nudes of under-aged girls during his WhatsApp chat with two females living in Asia.

Having worked largely in the public sector, Judge Hassan said Diggins, who had pleaded guilty, was awarded a doctorate in art history in 2019 and was presently enrolled in a masters’ degree in archaeology.

“Your possession of child abuse material means you have participated in the market for this kind of material and this perpetuates the exploitation of children, often in disadvantaged countries,” the judge said.

“It is the duty of the court to do what it can to end the pernicious trade of child exploitation involving children who are unprotected and living in impoverished circumstances.”

She cited mostly a delay in finalising the matter and the steps Diggins had undertaken towards rehabilitation as exceptional circumstances that allowed a non-custodial sentence to be imposed.

“Make sure you never behave in such disgraceful manner again,” she said shortly before Diggins left the dock.

Rail Projects Victoria was contacted for comment on Diggins’ current employment status but did not respond to questions.

Diggins was arrested in 2022. In 2024 he was slated to be a guest speaker for a Metro Tunnel Project update for a Residents 3000 forum.