'Abhorrent' South Wales Police officer Lewis Edwards groomed girls as young as 10 on Snapchat

The alarm was raised when South Wales Police were tipped off about suspicious online activity on the dark web.

A police officer is facing jail after admitting grooming young girls as young as 10 to carry out sex acts on Snapchat. Lewis Edwards, 23, secretly recorded clips of his victims online after he targeted them on the social media platform, Cardiff Crown Court heard. The court heard Edwards was a serving police officer when he targeted his victims to make thousands of indecent images of children.The alarm was raised when the South Wales Police online investigations team were tipped off about suspicious online activity on the dark web.Prosecutor Roger Griffiths said there was in "excess of 200 victims" relating to the indecent images made by Edwards.Mr Griffiths said: "There is a group who cannot be traced because all we have are their usernames on Snapchat."Cardiff Crown Court heard Edwards posed as a teenager to groom girls as young as 10 into sending him images and videos.Edwards previously pleaded guilty to 106 child sex offences in May after a police raid at his home.On Friday 1 September, Edwards pleaded guilty to a further 54 charges including blackmail, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and making a child watch a sex act.

In total, Edwards admitted to making more than 4,500 indecent images of children in categories A to C, with A being the most serious.

The court heard he used the recordings to blackmail his victims by forcing them to send him increasingly explicit images. Credit: PA

Edwards, of Bridgend, South Wales, was immediately suspended from duty at South Wales Police and resigned following his arrest.

He was later dismissed from the force following an an accelerated misconduct hearing, and has been added to the barred list, preventing him from returning to policing.The court heard he used the recordings to blackmail his victims by forcing them to send him increasingly explicit images.Officers discovered heavily encrypted electronic devices in a raid at his home - along with a blackmail manual.

Edwards admitted making 955 category A indecent images of children, 445 category B images and 3,377 category C images of children.Judge Recorder Tracey Lloyd Clarke adjourned the case for a three-day sentencing hearing on 23 October.She said: "Your case will now be adjourned for sentence and will be listed for three days. You will be remanded in custody until that date."

Lewis Edwards joined South Wales Police force in January 2021 and had previously pleaded guilty to 162 child sex offences. Credit: ITV Wales

Detective Superintendent Tracey Rankine, head of the Police Online Investigation Team, described the material officers discovered as "shocking"."His abhorrent behaviour involved threatening and blackmailing his young victims who lived in fear of him.

"Our investigation has involved forensically examining encrypted computer equipment and mobile devices which led to the recovery of shocking material. The strength of this evidence has resulted in him admitting the charges against him", she said.

Assistant Chief Constable Danny Richards said there is "no place" for anyone in the force who abuses their "personal responsibility as a police officer".

"The public will be as shocked and sickened as I am that such appalling offences have been committed by a serving police officer", he said.

“There is no place in South Wales Police for anyone who abuses the personal responsibility they hold as a police officer. We work hard to ensure that vetting systems are effective.

“Our number one priority is to protect the public so if anyone has any information about the safety of young or vulnerable people or those who pose a risk in our society then I urge them to come forward and report it to us."Speaking after the hearing, Lucy Dowdall, Specialist Prosecutor in the CPS’s Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit, said: "Edwards wrongly believed that the police would not investigate his activity and arrogantly told victims that was the case. This case demonstrates the determination of law enforcement and prosecutors to bring all on-line sexual offenders to justice.“The case also illustrates that the Dark Web is not a safe place for sexual offenders to operate. Once intelligence identified Edwards, South Wales Police moved very rapidly to arrest him, and he was charged soon afterwards. The prosecution has stopped his abuse from continuing."