18-year-old Lancashire sex offender jailed for grooming 14-year-old girl on social media
Dangerous sex offender, Kai Edmundson, 18, has been jailed after grooming a 14-year-old girl on social media over a four month period.
According to police, Kai encouraged the young girl over social media to self-harm. The pair never met in person, as the girl lives in Derbyshire, while Edmundson lives in Oswaldtwistle. He used social media platforms Telegram, Discord and WhatsApp to target the vulnerable young girl.
The victim told Kai Edmundson that she was 14 when they first started communicating over Discord last September.
Edmundson openly referred to himself as a paedophile and sent her up to five indecent images of children and a link to a website where indecent images of children could be accessed - on that website were images of children as young as four.
He later demanded images and video of the victim undressing and committing lewd acts on herself. He also told her to refer to him as a 'disgusting paedophile' and described how he wanted to commit illegal acts.
Edmundson encouraged the victim’s eating disorder and told her to carve his name into her skin
Contact between the pair stopped on 31st January 2025. The matter was reported to our colleagues at Derbyshire Police and they visited the victim.
They recovered screenshots of conversations between the victim and a profile on Discord which was being operated by Edmundson.
They also saw the faint marks on the victim’s neck of the name Kai which had been scratched into the skin.
Edmundson was arrested on 1st April by officers from our East Internet Child Exploitation Team.
His phone was seized, and our officers found indecent images of children on it.
Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, Edmundson, formerly of Oswaldtwistle but now of no fixed address, was charged with 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.
He pleaded guilty to all the offences when he appeared at Preston Crown Court earlier this year. He was back in the dock today October 24th and was sentenced to five years and three months in custody. He was also made subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and told to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.
DS Nicholas Barker, from our East Internet Child Exploitation Team, said: “Edmundson is an extremely troubled young man with some extremely disturbing views and behaviours. He is someone who presents a serious risk to children due to his online activities.
“I hope the outcome of this case, and the fact that Edmundson has been given a custodial sentence sends out a clear message that the police will not tolerate this abhorrent behaviour online. We will work with other forces to protect the victims and put the offenders before the courts.”