Karl Davies, 42, has been convicted of 17 offences relating to a schoolgirl aged between 13 and 14 – a court heard the father-of-two had a ‘monstrous sense of sexual entitlement’
A man who groomed a schoolgirl before repeatedly sexually abusing her and encouraging her to self-harm has been jailed for 20 years.
Karl Davies, a father-of-two from the Wirral, admitted and has been convicted of 17 offences relating to a schoolgirl aged between 13 and 14. The 42-year-old showed “no pity and no mercy” for the “catastrophic” impact on his victim and had a “monstrous sense of sexual entitlement”, Manchester Crown Court heard on Monday.
Davies first made contact with the girl on Snapchat in June 2023, threatening and coercing her into sending him indecent images and videos of herself over the next year. Using several aliases to stay in contact, he then picked her up from school in “broad daylight” to sexually abuse her in his car on four occasions in the summer of 2024.
Sentencing Davies, Judge Hilary Manley imposed an extended sentence on Davies to reflect his “depraved and sadistic” crimes. During the year of abuse Davies also encouraged or coerced his victim into videoing herself committing acts of self harm, and bought her razors to facilitate it.
He is the first person to be convicted for encouraging serious self-harm to a child under Section 184 of the Online Safety Act 2023. Judge Manley said: “To encourage a vulnerable young girl to inflict harm on herself for your sexual gratification really does plumb the depths of abhorrent behaviour.”
He added: “Your offending displays a monstrous sense of sexual entitlement and a sinister desire for control.” He was arrested after his victim told her stepmother of the abuse, and a video of Davies sexually abusing the girl was found on her phone by police.
Despite admitting to the charges, Davies told probation services that he was not sexually interested in children, even though he abused the girl in her school uniform and told her she had a “good body for a 14-year-old”, the court heard. “Around June of 2023 a Snapchat account in the name of Ben Wild operated by the defendant, say the prosecution, added [the victim] in this case,” said Huw Edwards, prosecuting.
Davies quickly ensured that the contact was “more than simply friendship” and sexual images were sent between the two, before he then put the girl in contact with another social media account. “The prosecution’s case has always been that each of these accounts or aliases is in fact the defendant pretending to be a different person,” said Mr Edwards.
Davies’s wife caught the first of his aliases having contact with the teenage girl and confronted him, but he made excuses and it did not deter him. 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.
Judge Manley said: “Having deliberately targeted her online, you subjected her to a campaign of sexual abuse and exploitation. You used multiple identities, not only to try to cover your tracks, but also to manipulate and frighten your victim into continued compliance.”
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.”
Judge Manley said: “You had used trickery, lies, manipulation, threats and blackmail to satisfy your completely twisted sexual appetite and your desire for control. Your behaviour demonstrates a breath-taking combination of planning, subterfuge and cunning, and a brazen disregard for your victim’s welfare and safety.”
She deemed that Davies met the conditions for an extended sentence, which means he will remain on licence for five years on top of his custodial sentence. 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.”