Police officer who committed over 100 child sex offences sentenced to life in prison: ‘He took away her innocence’
Police officer who committed over 100 child sex offences sentenced to life in prison
PA
A police officer who incited over 200 young girls into sending him images of them performing sexual acts on themselves has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 12 years.
Lewis Edwards, 23, groomed 210 girls aged between 10 and 16 over a three-year period on the social media platform Snapchat.
Posing as a 14-year-old boy, the ex-South Wales Police officer secretly recorded explicit images and videos of his victims, which he then stored on multiple devices at his Bridgend home.
He then used the recordings to blackmail his victims into sending increasingly graphic content, threatening to share the images online and tell their family and friends.
Sentencing Mr Edwards, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said: “He groomed his victims, psychologically manipulating them until he had gained control.”
“The defendant had a pattern of behaviour. He made online contact with a girl.
“The defendant pretended to be a boy of a similar age. He groomed his victims psychologically, manipulating them until he had gained control.”
“When his victims did not comply, he would threaten them until they did what they were told.”
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In total, Edwards was caught with 4500 indecent images, 700 of which are classed as ‘Category A’. These are images involving penetrative sexual activity.
The 24-year-old also sent videos of himself performing sexual acts. In an audio recording played to the court, Edwards could be heard saying “swear down you’re actually 13, you look so much older.”
In the recorded phone call with the 13-year-old girl, he watched sexually explicit videos she had sent him and says, “I wish I could just watch these forever” before asking her later in the recording to “moan for daddy”.
Edwards joined South Wales Police in January 2021 with the offences occurring from November 2020 to February 2023 when he was arrested, and later sacked from the force following a misconduct hearing.
He pleaded guilty to 22 counts of blackmail, 138 child sex offences and a further offence of refusing to disclose the password to a mobile phone and USB stick.
Police interview of Lewis Edwards who was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 12 years at Cardiff Crown Court
PA
Speaking to GB News, Detective Superintendent Tracey Rankine of South Wales Police revealed the sophistication of the setup Edwards was found to be using.
She said: “There was a degree of encryption where if you just unplugged everything, it would have wiped everything, and we would have lost the evidence we were seeking.
“There were file directories where they had numbers next to the folders which were indicative of ages… so there was a degree of organisation and filing of those images and videos.”
On Edwards being found to be a South Wales police officer, the Detective Superintendent said: “It was just devastating to know that person was one of our own at the time of the offending and I was grateful at the speed which he stopped being a police officer.
“I think that sends a very strong message that we won’t tolerate this kind of behaviour.”
Across the three days of sentencing, Prosecutor, Roger Griffiths, detailed the conversations Lewis Edwards had with his victims.
In the case of a 12-year-old girl, Mr Griffiths told the court: “He asked her to put her school uniform on and video herself dressing out of it, until she was naked.
“He said he had done this to other people before and those people had killed themselves, so he didn't care if she killed herself.”
Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke sentenced Edwards to life in prison
Cardiff Crown Court
In response to the constant demands for images from the 24-year-old, the girl told him: “I am terrified, I have done everything you've asked.”
Reading a victim impact statement to Judge Lloyd-Clarke, one of Edwards’ victims said: “I thought it was all my fault… it was like I was his property.”
A mother of one of the victims told the court: “He took away her innocence. It felt like I was living in a nightmare.
“We will never forgive you and we feel nothing for you other than hate.”
Another victim added: “You are supposed to be able to trust the police, but the police did this to me.”
Susan Ferrier, defending Edwards, said her client admitted to “destroying people's lives” with his “prolonged, shocking and predatory offences against young girls”.
She added: “He couldn’t stop himself. He knew that it was wrong, and binge drank to block out what was taking place.”