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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Josh Halliday North of England editor

‘Vile’ online groomer is first in UK to be jailed for encouraging a child to self-harm

Karl Davies mugshot
Karl Davies set up bogus identities on Snapchat using stolen Facebook profiles, using them to threaten the teenager into sending more abuse images. Photograph: police handout

A “vile and sadistic” online groomer has been jailed for 20 years in a UK legal first for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl he encouraged to self-harm.

Karl Davies contacted the “extremely vulnerable” schoolgirl on the gaming app Discord and targeted her for months using fake profiles on Snapchat.

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