In a harrowing court hearing at Cardiff Crown Court, it was revealed that Lewis Edwards, a 23-year-old former South Wales police officer, preyed on 210 girls aged between 10 and 16 on Snapchat over a three-year period. Edwards, who posed as a 14-year-old boy, covertly recorded indecent videos and images of his victims, forcing them into increasingly explicit acts. He blackmailed the teenage girls by threatening to expose the indecent content to their friends and relatives.

Edwards, who joined the police force in January 2021, had previously pleaded guilty to 162 child sex offences. His sentencing hearing began on Monday, although he refused to attend, and it is expected to last three days.

Prosecutor Roger Griffiths outlined the severity of Edwards’s crimes, emphasising the manipulation and coercion employed. Edwards not only recorded indecent material but also sent explicit videos of himself. The court heard that the police investigation uncovered the disturbing online interactions between the defendant and his victims.

“He would say he was going to post images he already had to friends and relatives of the victims,” explained Griffiths.

Edwards had been in contact with 210 girls between November 2020 and February 2023. The police recovered images relating to 207 victims, highlighting the scale and impact of his crimes.

The extensive list of charges against Edwards includes inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, making a child watch a sex act, demanding indecent images of children, and making indecent images of children.