Horrific details of a police officer's callous manipulation of girls as young as 10 who he bullied and blackmailed into sending him sexual images and videos have been aired in Cardiff Crown Court.
Lewis Edwards, 24, of Bridgend, is being sentenced for 160 charges including child exploitation, blackmail, indecent images and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He was caught by South Wales Police, where he worked, after the force received intelligence about the downloading of indecent images from the dark web.
There were more than 200 victims he had targeted on Snapchat, groomed, manipulated and then threatened and blackmailed who lived in fear of the paedophile, who also sent images of himself masturbating. The defendant was identified, arrested and subsequently resigned from the force, before an accelerated misconduct hearing delivered the sanction of dismissal.
Read more: The sentencing hearing is due to last three days. Follow live updates from the second day here
Edwards refused to attend his sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court which began on Monday. Here are the horrific revelations that have been aired in court.
Victims begged Edwards not to do it
The court heard how Edwards would add children, aged between 10 and 16-years-old, on Snapchat while pretending to be a boy of a similar age. Once he had received one indecent image from his victim, he would use it to blackmail them into sending more, while threatening to send the images to friends, family or post them online.
Many of the victims would beg the paedophile to delete the images, with heartbreaking audio and video footage played in court of the victim's pleas for empathy. In one video, a girl of 13 is exposing her breasts, while crying and wiping her face and types “Pls Stop… ‘I’m litro 13 pls jus del everything (sic).”
Another vicitm, who was just 12-years-old said: "“Just delete them please, I am sick of them now”, “Just delete them and I’ll do more”, “Leave me the f*** alone dude, I am serious.”
Edwards responded: "“Hehe if u leave il ruin ur life rn… Now do the vids I asked for and stand further back yh x(sic)”. The victim sent images of herself masturbating while visibly in distress and crying, and Edwards told her to not cover her face.
He forced one victim to film herself 50 times as she cried
One victim was forced to send around 50 videos in one day, where she was forced to insert a brush inside her private parts. She said she was so upset, but he kept telling her to carry on. She said that Edwards, who told her his name was “James,” said that if she stopped sending, he would have put all the images of her all over the internet.
He said: “Oh you wouldn’t want me to expose you would you, so do it or you will find out what will happen.” The defendant told her he would share the images on his “well-known Snapchat”.
On one occasion, Edwards sent her a video of two people having sex and told her to watch it. The people in the video having sex were a young girl and a boy of similar age.
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He emotionally manipulated victims to send a first pic
Edwards, again posing as a teenage boy, manipulated one young victim into sending indecent images of herself by saying that would he self harm if she didn't. She said after talking for around two to three weeks he started asking for photographs and said he wanted to see anything of her body with no clothes on.
She stated he would “beg” and “threaten” her for the photos and that he was “getting nasty”. She states he was getting mad and defensive and was saying “You can trust me”.
The victim said he told her that the photos would help him with his problems, and she was the only reason he lives. He told her if she did not do it, he would hurt himself and be upset with her, he also told her if she didn’t then “something bad will happen”. He would keep on bringing up his mental health and that he was thinking of ending it all.
She said she was scared so sent him the photos. She said she sent him whatever he asked for so ended up sending him pictures of her “boobs” and where she goes to the toilet. Edwards would reply saying she is gorgeous and pretty and perfect and shouldn’t be insecure. He also sent her pictures of his penis and he sent her loads of these and she wouldn’t ask for them.
He threatened to bomb or even kill other victims
The fourth victim named in the charges was just 12 when Edwards made friends with her on Snapchat. She said Edwards started threatening her, telling her that if she didn’t send photos he could come to her house, bomb her, and shoot her parents.
The 11th victim was also 12 when Edwards targeted her. He sent the victim her address and said he would “kill her” if she didn’t send him images. She sent more than one image to “James” and was not wearing clothes. She said she was “shocked” upon being asked for the images and remembered “crying”.
Once he had indecent images, he relentlessly bullied and blackmailed victims
Once Edwards had got the initial picture from his victims, he would change. One girl of 13 said, after sending the first picture, “you’ve got it, now leave me alone". But he replied simply “well I’ve changed my mind” and he threatened to leak it if she didn't send more. The girl sent an image in which she can be seen crying.
Edwards showed a sadistic thrill in blackmailing the victims, threatening to "ruin their lives" if they did not send more images. After one girl threatened to jump off the roof, he told her to share more images "before I share this s***, do it and save yourself” and “If I haven’t seen it by then it’s going everywhere”. The victim said: “Please don’t post it, please don’t make me do any more”. But Edwards responded “You’re going to have to do more”.
In one message, the victim said: “I have to forget it and play it down, last night was really the last straw for me. I couldn’t cope physically being here, I just want you to leave me alone. I don’t have to know who you are, just want all my s*** deleted and you can leave me alone.”
She could be heard crying and said: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry for whatever I have done to you.” In haunting pixelated video footage played to the court, the victim can be heard crying and saying "Do I have to?"
Victims have self harmed
As a result of their treatment by Edwards, some of the victims have self harmed or had suicidal thoughts. A statement from one mother read to the court said: "(My daughter) has suicidal thoughts, says she doesn’t want to be here anymore and has self harm marks on her legs. She’s had counselling sessions but has become distant and secretive. She doesn’t trust people she should trust like the police etc. Not one of the above issues occurred before the incident. It’s changed not only her life but our lives forever.”
Another victim said she self harmed after she found out Edwards was a full grown man and a police officer. She said: "A few weeks later I self harmed, I didn’t want to live anymore because of everything that went on. I didn’t tell my mum and dad because I thought I’d get a row. I remember when we were talking I felt frightened because he was threatening and felt I had to do what he asked."
Victims lost all confidence
The children he abused described losing all confidence. One said: "I don’t trust the police at all, before this I would have called the police if I was in trouble but now I don’t feel like that. I don’t trust them anymore."
A mum said: "I feel I’ve lost a small part of my baby girl. Her innocence has been torn from her and she will never get it back. She will always have those images in her mind. Will she ever trust that people are who they say they are?...
“She’s now scared of the police, security guards and men in general. She is a shell of her former self. I failed to protect my daughter. I can’t console her or assure her everything is ok. When I think how scared she was, alone in the dark just a few yards away breaks my heart."
Families left distraught and angry
The words of Edwards victims are hearbreaking to read. One mother, who read her own statement to the hearing, said: "Lewis Edwards, I want you to know what you have done to my child and my family. You have broken us. I can’t express with words how angry I am that you have taken my daughter’s innocence and childhood away from her, especially when she was in her own home where she should have felt safe. You have broken her to the point she didn’t want to live anymore. I want the court to understand the irreparable damage you have caused us all.”
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2023-10-25 09:29:00Z
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