Police officer who groomed more than 200 children on Snapchat given 13 life sentences
A police officer believed to be Britain’s most prolific online paedophile groomed more than 200 children on Snapchat, a court heard.
Lewis Edwards posed as a teenage boy to groom 210 girls aged between 10 and 16 and forced them to send him indecent images that he secretly recorded.
He then blackmailed many of his victims with threats to tell their family and friends unless they sent increasingly graphic content.
Edwards was branded “cruel and sadistic” as he was handed 13 life sentences by a judge on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old also threatened to bomb the house of one of his victims and shoot her parents if she ended communication, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
Many of his victims have suffered suicidal feelings, anxiety and depression, with one so traumatised she slept with a hammer under her pillow.
Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff, imposed 13 life sentences for each of the most serious offences and imposed a minimum term of imprisonment of 12 years.
Judge Lloyd-Clarke said: “He has caused significant harm to the victims, to their parents, their siblings and their wider families.
“It is clear that he not only gained sexual gratification from his offending but that he also enjoyed the power and control that he had over these young girls.
“His reaction to their distress can properly be described as cruel and sadistic. His offending is significantly aggravated by the fact that he was a serving police officer.
“Many of his victims and their families have said that his actions have caused them to lose trust in the police. There is no doubt he has caused significant harm to the reputation of South Wales Police and to policing generally.”
Many of the victims and their families were sitting in the packed public gallery for the hearing but Edwards refused to attend, with the judge saying she did not have the power to force him to appear.
Edwards, who joined the South Wales Police Force in January 2021 and has since resigned, had previously pleaded guilty to 22 counts of blackmail, 138 child sex offences and a further offence of refusing to disclose the password to a mobile phone and USB stick.
The court heard all but one of the victims were abused while he was a serving police officer, and he targeted one teenager just 17 days after meeting her as part of his duties.
Investigators found that on 30 occasions, Edwards was in contact with his victims while on duty.
Detectives raided the home he shared with his parents in Bridgend, South Wales, in February this year and seized mobile phones, a computer, USB sticks and a hard drive.
In a victim impact statement, the girl described Edwards as a “paedophile” and added: “I was a little girl. I feel embarrassed, disgusted and abused. I lost my innocence.”
In a statement released following the case, a spokeswoman for Snapchat said the social media platform had recently added a new warning for teenagers.
“Any sexual exploitation of young people is abhorrent and illegal and our hearts go out to the victims in this case,” she said.
“We work in multiple ways to detect and prevent this type of abuse including using cutting-edge detection technology, and we work with police to support investigations.
“We have extra protections for under-18s and recently added a new pop-up warning for teens if they are contacted by someone who they don’t know. Our Family Centre allows parents to see who their teens are talking to.”
