A serving South Wales Police officer who blackmailed children into sending images of themselves performing sexual acts was said to have had more than 200 victims. His young victims “lived in fear” from the paedophile, who also sent images of himself masturbating.

Lewis Edwards, 23, of Bridgend, was caught after the police force he was employed by received intelligence about the downloading of indecent images of children from the dark web. The defendant was identified, arrested and subsequently resigned from the force, before an accelerated misconduct hearing delivered the sanction of dismissal.

An investigation by South Wales Police revealed Edwards’ victims were aged between 10 and 16-years-old, who he groomed on Snapchat between 2020 and 2023. He posed a teenager and forced his victim to make indecent videos and images of themselves, which he covertly recorded.