A 27-year-old man who groomed at least 70 girls across the United Kingdom and coerced them into sending sexually explicit videos and photographs has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Bilal Kazi, an Indian student who had been studying at the University of Chester, carried out his campaign of abuse between August 2021 and August 2025, targeting victims aged between 10 and 17 through popular apps including Snapchat, Wink and Roblox.
A web of deception
Chester Crown Court heard how Kazi constructed an elaborate false identity, presenting himself as a 14-year-old white British boy. Using the alias "Reece" and photographs taken from an unidentified teenager's social media page, he convinced his young victims that they were in genuine romantic relationships.
Once trust was established, Kazi would pressure the girls into sending increasingly intimate material. When victims hesitated, he told them that sharing such content was simply "what people do when they love each other." If they refused, he threatened to distribute the images they had already sent, or material he had secretly recorded on Snapchat, to their friends and families.
In some instances, he hacked into his victims' social media accounts, shared their private content with their peers and published the images publicly.
Victims describe lasting trauma
The court heard that the consequences of Kazi's abuse have been devastating and enduring. Some victims attempted suicide, while others have struggled with anxiety and developed eating disorders.
In a personal impact statement read aloud during earlier proceedings, one young woman said Kazi had "taken away a sense of privacy and security."
"I am doing my best to move forward but the effects are still with me," she said. "The harm caused is not limited to the time events took place. They continue to affect my daily life."
Another victim, who was just 13 when Kazi first made contact, told the court he had stripped her of her "innocence," adding: "I hope one day I can get on with my life."
Investigation and arrest
The case began in December 2021 when a victim approached Derbyshire Police. She explained that she had started communicating with Kazi on Snapchat at the age of 13, believing him to be the same age. The investigation was transferred to Cheshire Constabulary in May 2022, and officers initially identified 180 possible victims.
Kazi had left Chester and the university by that point, but he was arrested at Heathrow Airport on 21 July 2023 as he re-entered the country. He was charged with 39 offences and pleaded guilty in July 2026 to 37 of them, including making indecent images, blackmail and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Two charges were left to lie on file.
West Midlands Police also charged him with eight further offences committed while he was on bail for the Cheshire investigation. Those offences were factored into his overall sentence.
A dangerous predator
Sentencing him, Judge Stephen Everett described Kazi as a sexual predator who exploited what appeared to be inadequate security on social media platforms.
"It is incomprehensible to me why any person would do what you did to those little girls," the judge said. "This was bad enough, but when one learns of all the other images you demanded for your deviant sexual desires, we will never know how many victims there were."
He continued: "Children who believed they were safe in their own homes, and by your gross misuse of social media, you took away all of that safety, all of that comfort."
Judge Everett said he found it difficult to identify any mitigating factors and doubted the sincerity of Kazi's remorse. "You are a very dangerous person," he told him. "In a sophisticated way, you got into the minds of young people and got them to do things that were totally alien to them."
Kazi must serve a minimum of 20 years before becoming eligible for parole. He will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for life and will be on licence for eight years following his release.
Police urge parents to stay vigilant
Detective Constable Georgia Hughes of Cheshire Police said Kazi had shown no remorse throughout the process.
"The girls targeted by Kazi were young and vulnerable," she said. "For many, their interactions with him were their first experience of what they believed to be a romantic relationship. Exploiting that trust, Kazi manipulated them into believing that his behaviour was normal."
She added that many victims lived in constant fear of what he would do if they failed to comply, and some have carried that fear for years. "What should have been important formative years have instead been overshadowed by the trauma of Kazi's abuse."
Sergeant Ross Peel, who also investigated the case, urged parents to take an active interest in the apps and platforms their children use. "The potential for online offending is vast, and offenders can target children from anywhere in the world," he said. "By educating yourselves and your children about online safety and the risks associated with communicating with people they do not know online, you can help protect them."
