A police officer groomed more than 200 girls online and repeatedly asked them to take sexual images in their school uniforms, a court was told.
Lewis Edwards, 24, from Bridgend in south Wales, used fake Snapchat accounts and posed as a young boy to contact girls aged 10 to 16.
He admitted 160 charges of blackmail and child sexual abuse and one charge of refusing to provide pin codes to some of the devices seized, but refused to appear for sentencing at Cardiff crown court.
Edwards, a police constable during most of the offences, was caught with more than 4,500 indecent images of children. He was barred from policing after a misconduct hearing but had already resigned.
The court previously heard that Edwards was in contact with 210 girls in total, with images of 207 of them recovered from his devices.
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He would threaten the girls, telling them he would publish their images or harm their families if they did not do as he asked.
Edwards joined the police in January 2021 and the offences spanned November 2020 until February this year when he was arrested.
During the sentencing hearing, which started on Monday, a barrister broke down in tears while reading out an impact statement from the mother of one of Edward’s victims. Roger Griffiths, for the prosecution, became upset reading the words of the dying woman and had to ask for a break.
In the statement, the mother said: “The last few months should have been a time when I can make memories and spend quality time with my children. This has also been taken away from us and the emotional pain I have endured has sadly impacted on my declining physical health.
“Lewis Edwards has taken everything from us. He has taken the innocence of my beautiful little girl. He has taken precious family time we should be spending together making memories and he has taken the emotional and physical well-being of us as parents.
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“Life isn’t ever going to be the same for us again. The impact of his offending is very real and life-changing.”
The court heard that in response to images sent by one girl of her doing sexual acts, Edwards sent her a message which read: “Good girl, but get that top off. If you try and waste time I will share everything. I’m waiting. Don’t reply unless it’s a video.”
One victim could be heard saying in a video “please can we stop, please I am begging you”, Griffiths said.
During the sentencing hearing a schoolgirl implored Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the recorder of Cardiff, to “lock away” Edwards.
The young victim, who was just 13 at the time of the offence, read her statement from the witness box. She said: “I am angry that he had the choice to go to court but he took away my choice. He should be made to listen to all of the victims’ statements.”
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Griffiths said Edwards had told her she was “perfect” and forced her to pose in her school uniform as she performed sex acts.
She told her mother of the abuse when Edwards threatened to blackmail her if she stopped sending him images.
The girl told the court: “I thought I was talking to a really nice boy who liked me lots and complimented me, making me feel good about myself. I felt sorry for him because I thought he was having a hard time due to the stories he was telling me.
“I thought I was sending him images to make him happy and I never felt right about it — I was just trying to please him.”
Edwards kept his videos on mobile phones and a USB stick in the bedroom of the semi-detached home he shared with his parents.
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Griffiths said Edwards targeted another girl after he was called to deal with an incident at her home, and there were at least 30 times when he received explicit images from victims while on duty.
The court heard Edwards told the 15-year-old he had “met her at a party” after requesting her on Snapchat. But the girl resisted his requests for sexual pictures despite his repeated begging and accused him of “creeping her out”.
Griffiths said the girl was “distinctive” because she was the only victim they could prove Edwards had met through his work as a constable.
The sentencing hearing continues.