A man who pleaded guilty to sexual offences against a child – in addition to encouraging her to self-harm has been jailed for 20 years
In a case one of the first that has utilised the Online Safety Act as part of the investigation, 42 year old Karl Davies from the Wirral on Merseyside abused the girl over several months, before the girl bravely came forward to report his crimes
He had previously plead guilty to seventeen offences at his plea hearing at Manchester Crown Court on 22 May, including ten counts of sexual activity with a child, four of grooming, and two of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.
A Snapchat account using the name ‘Ben’ messaged the girl, who was aged 13 at the time. The communication soon led to image sharing, before ‘Ben’ encouraged the girl to share images with another account under the name ‘Chris’.
Over the following weeks, several accounts contacted the girl, disappearing and re-appearing at various points, with phone calls and further image sharing taking place.
The accounts were in fact all managed by Karl Davies.
The accounts fell under different names and alternated between blackmailing her to send indecent images, or acting supportive of her issues. This continued for several months, with the girl sending multiple videos at the request of the different accounts.
This included the girl being asked to send videos of her hurting herself, using items at the encouragement of the accounts.
Eventually, by June 2024, one of the accounts under the name ‘Sean’ told the girl that she had to meet his friend ‘Mark’ to engage in sexual acts.
That month, Davies, under the guise of ‘Mark’, travelled from his home address in the Wirral to Stockport, where he picked up the girl, then aged 14, in her school uniform. While there, he abused the girl in his car.
This occurred several times throughout June and July – Davies would pick the girl up, sexually abuse her, and then go home, sometimes telling the girl to send videos of their acts to the other accounts.
Throughout this time, some of the accounts encouraged the girl to hurt herself, with Davies providing her with a razor during one of their meet-ups for the purpose of self-harm.
The girl subsequently sent images of her injuries to Davies’ accounts.
In January 2025, the girl bravely came forward, and during an interview with police, went through all the details of the incidents.
He additionally plead guilty to the offence of encouraging or assisting serious self-harm. That offence is one of the first prosecuted in the country, and the first case prosecuted which involved a child. The offence falls under the Online Safety Act 2023.
In a powerful victim impact statement read by the girl’s social worker, it describes the abuse as having a “detrimental impact on [the girl’s] emotional health” as well describing the ‘trauma and excruciating physical pain’ she has suffered.
The worker added: “The strength it has taken for [her] to feel able to talk about the abuse has been astounding and I have seen a significant change in [her] demeanour having finally been able to tell her story.”
Stacey Gosling, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: “As a seasoned prosecutor of grooming cases I have never before seen such sophisticated methods used to target a young person.
“Karl Davies went to great lengths to hide his identity and position himself as the child’s protector when he was anything but.
“He groomed the girl using six different snapchat accounts, first luring her in with compliments and building her trust, before turning to threats when she wouldn’t share explicit materials and do what he asked of her.
“He also encouraged her to self-harm, giving no thought to the lasting impact his vile and cruel abuse would have on his young victim.
“I can only hope that as Davies begins his prison sentence, the victim can begin to move forward knowing her vile abuser has been brought to justice.”
