Man Jailed for Grooming at Least 70 Girls Online

Bilal Kazi, 27, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for grooming at least 70 girls and coercing them into sending sexually explicit images and videos.

Kazi, a student from India who was studying at the University of Chester, targeted victims aged between 10 and 17 using apps including Snapchat, Wink, and Roblox between August 2021 and August 2025. He posed as a 14-year-old white British teenage boy and made his victims believe they were in a relationship with him.

Kazi pleaded guilty to 37 charges including making indecent images, blackmail, and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He must serve a minimum of 20 years in prison before being eligible for parole and will be on the sex offenders register for life. He will be on licence for eight years once eligible for parole.

In a personal impact statement, one victim said Kazi had "taken away a sense of privacy and security" and that the harm caused continued to affect her daily life. The court heard that some of the victims had attempted suicide, struggled with anxiety, and developed eating disorders.

Kazi used photographs he had taken from a teenage boy's social media page to aid his deception. He would demand progressively more intimate content and threatened to leak images if victims refused. In some cases, he hacked into victims' social media accounts, shared the content with their friends, and published the pictures on social media.

The investigation into Kazi's crimes began after a victim came forward to Derbyshire Police in December 2021. The investigation was later passed to Cheshire Constabulary, which identified 180 possible victims. Kazi was arrested at Heathrow Airport in July 2023. He was subsequently charged with 39 offences and pleaded guilty to 37 of the charges. He has also been charged by West Midlands Police with a further eight offences committed while on police bail for the Cheshire investigation.

Judge Stephen Everett said Kazi was a sexual predator who took advantage of "what appears to be a lack of proper security on social media sites". Detective Constable Georgia Hughes said Kazi had not shown any remorse and that the girls targeted were young and vulnerable.