Abuser first to be jailed under new Online Safety Act after encouraging child to self-harm

This article contains details some may find distressing.

Karl Davies, from Merseyside, has been jailed for 20 years after he encouraged a child to self-harm online.

Davies began targeting the girl when she was 13, back in October 2023.

He posed a a young boy, Ben, who was the same age as her.

They began messaging on Discord, later moving to Snapchat. Davies then asked for pictures, before other accounts became involved.

Police first thought the girl was being abused by six different men - before realising Davies was posing with multiple accounts.

Messaged escalated into blackmailing the child into sending sexual photos and videos, before telling her to self-harm and record the evidence.

"He was putting her in a position where she was scared," Detective Sergeant Rob Griffiths said.

His persona, Mark, came in as a "saviour" figure to help the girl with the other accounts.

Over time, the prosecution said the aliases became “rather more sinister” threatening the girl and saying they would contact her father if she did not do as Davies asked.

“Your offending displays a monstrous sense of sexual entitlement and a sinister desire for control,” said Judge Manley.

In June and July 2024, Davies drove to pick up the victim posing as “Mark” and made her perform sexual acts with him in four separate meetings.

Mr Edwards said: “Before the meeting Joey aka the defendant told her what she would be doing with Mark.

“Joey was the one who said to (the victim) you are to meet Mark and perform sexual acts upon him… She was told to record what they were doing, she did so and that was then shared with Joey on Snapchat.”

The judge added that Davies had used “trickery, lies, manipulations and blackmail” to satisfy his “twisted appetite” with a high level of control and planning.

On one visit, he brought a razor blade and told her to use it.

When officers later searched his room, they found the blade alongside a girl’s scrunchie, grim reminders of the control he exerted over his victim.

Davies kept his secret life hidden from his wife and children, pretending he was away on work trips.

But his double life began to unravel when his wife grew suspicious that he was having an affair.

Finding a number on his phone, she called it - and a child answered.

Detective Sergeant Griffiths said: “It’s extremely concerning that Karl by all accounts is a family man.

"He holds down a full time job. And then on the other side of it, online he is a completely different person. He was a monster online – exploiting a young girl to control her entire life.”

Zoe Becker from the Crown Prosecution Service said this conviction marks a growing trend. “We do see a lot of cases of abuse that begin online, or that take place entirely online,” she said.

“We see a lot of cases where the victim is as young as this.

”She added that the nature of such crimes can be emotionally taxing for those investigating them. “We often see hundreds, even thousands of photos, messages and videos,” she said.

“It can take a toll on those having to go through it all.”