A 24-year-old police officer from UK's Bridgend has been sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to blackmailing and threatening more than 200 girls as young as 10. Lewis Edward was found with 4,500 indecent pictures of children. According to BBC News, he has admitted 160 counts of child sexual abuse and blackmail.
The media outlet reported that a South Wales Police officer had messaged 210 girls aged 10 to 16 from November 2020 until February 2023. Images of 2017 were found on his mobile phone.
Edwards joined the force as police constable in January 2021 but he is now barred from policing.
Imposing numerous concurrent prison terms, including multiple life sentences with a minimum duration of 12 years, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke stated, "It is clear that he not only gained sexual gratification from his offending but he also enjoyed the power and control he had over these young girls."
BBC reported that he will also be subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, barring him from working with children or vulnerable people and requiring him to keep his personal details logged with police.
Judge Clarke described his behaviour as "cruel and sadistic" and "psychologically manipulative", adding that he posed a high risk of danger to children.
"Even when his victims were crying, begging him to stop, the defendant did not stop even though he could be in no doubt about the immense harm he was causing his victims," she said.
Enquiries first began in December 2022 when police received intelligence about suspicious bank transactions and online activity, linked to the downloading of indecent images of children from the dark web, South Wales Police said in a release.
An IP address was linked to an address in the Bridgend area and further checks led to the offender being identified as 23-year-old Lewis Edwards - a serving police officer.
Edwards was immediately suspended from duty and resigned. An accelerated misconduct hearing was held which delivered the sanction of dismissal.
Assistant Chief Constable Danny Richards said, "There will be people asking how Edwards could have joined the police at the same time he was committing these terrible crimes.
"At the time of him joining SWP, his vetting was clear and there was nothing to indicate he was involved in such abhorrent offences against children."
