An 18-year-old from Lancashire, Kai Edmundson, has been sentenced to five years and three months in custody after pleading guilty to multiple offenses, including grooming a 14-year-old girl through social media.

Edmundson targeted the vulnerable victim, who lived in Derbyshire, over a four-month period using platforms like Telegram, Discord, and WhatsApp. The pair never met in person.

Key details of the case include:

• Encouraging Self-Harm: Edmundson encouraged the young girl to self-harm and scratch his name into her skin, with faint marks later recovered by police. He also encouraged her eating disorder.
• Indecent Images: He sent the victim up to five indecent images of children and a link to a website containing more, including images of children as young as four.
• Demands for Images: Edmundson also demanded images and videos of the victim undressing and performing sexual acts.
• Self-Identification: He openly referred to himself as a “paedophile” during his communication with the victim.

The victim’s communication with Edmundson stopped on January 31, 2025, and the matter was reported to Derbyshire Police. Screenshots of the conversations were recovered, leading to Edmundson’s arrest on April 1st by Lancashire Police’s East Internet Child Exploitation Team.

He pleaded guilty to all charges, which included engaging in sexual communication with a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, encouraging or assisting serious self-harm, and possessing indecent images of children.

In addition to the custodial sentence, Edmundson was made subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

DS Nicholas Barker of the East Internet Child Exploitation Team stated that Edmundson is an “extremely troubled young man with some extremely disturbing views and behaviours,” who presents a “serious risk to children due to his online activities.”