A former British police officer, aged 24, has been sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 12 years, for admitting to more than 100 child sex offenses. These crimes included manipulating and coercing over 200 young girls to send him explicit photographs of themselves through Snapchat. Lewis Edwards, who was part of the South Wales Police force, used the guise of a teenage boy on the social media platform to exploit and blackmail his victims into compliance.
During the trial, it was revealed that Edwards resorted to threatening his victims, even going as far as to intimidate one young girl by threatening to bomb her house and harm her family if she stopped sending him images. Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke described his actions as “cruel and sadistic,” emphasizing the significant harm he inflicted on the psychological well-being of the girls.
With a severe condemnation of his behavior, the judge highlighted the tarnishing of South Wales Police’s reputation and the overall perception of law enforcement due to Edwards’ actions. Dismissed following a police misconduct hearing, Edwards did not attend his sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court.
