A shocking case of online grooming and child exploitation has emerged as a former police officer, Lewis Edwards, 24, has been found guilty of grooming 200 girls online and coercing them into taking explicit images of themselves in school uniforms. Edwards, who used fake Snapchat accounts to contact girls aged 10 to 16, refused to appear for his sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday and Tuesday.

During the trial, it was revealed that Edwards, who was a police constable at the time of most of the offences, was caught with over 4,500 indecent images of children. Following a misconduct hearing, he was subsequently barred from policing.

The court heard that Edwards had been in contact with a total of 210 girls, with images of 207 of them recovered from his multiple devices. He would threaten the girls, telling them that he would publish their images or harm their families if they did not comply with his demands.

Edwards, who joined the police force in January 2021, committed the offenses between November 2020 and February 2023, when he was eventually arrested. He pleaded guilty to 160 charges of blackmail and child sexual abuse.

One particularly distressing aspect of the case was the targeting of two sisters, one of whom, aged 13 at the time, sent Edwards explicit images of herself, including a video of a sexual act. Edwards saved these images in a file on his devices.

Another victim, who was 13 when Edwards made contact, described how their communication began when she was about to start a new school. Believing that she was speaking to a teenage boy, she sent him images and complied with his requests to take sexual pictures in her school uniform. She later stated in court, “I was terrified, hurt, and let down. I will never get over this trauma.”

Prosecutor Roger Griffiths revealed that Edwards would coerce his victims into taking specific actions and would berate them if they didn’t comply. He would send messages such as “Good girl, but get that top off. If you try and waste time, I will share everything. I’m waiting. Don’t reply unless it’s a video.”

The court also heard that Edwards threatened some victims by claiming that others who had refused his demands had taken their own lives. The messages were sent late at night and often lasted until the early hours of the morning.

The sentencing hearing continues.