Man jailed for grooming at least 70 girls online

A man who groomed at least 70 girls and manipulated them into sending sexually explicit videos and images of themselves has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Bilal Kazi, 27, targeted his victims - aged between 10 and 17 - using apps including Snapchat, Wink and Roblox between August 2021 and August 2025.

Kazi, a student from India who was studying at the University of Chester, posed as a 14-year-old white British teenage boy and made his victims believe they were in a relationship with him.

He was jailed after pleading guilty to 37 charges including making indecent images, blackmail and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

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Kazi must serve a minimum of 20 years in prison before being eligible for parole and will be on the sex offenders register for life.

Once eligible for parole he will be on licence for eight years.

In a personal impact statement read out at Chester Crown Court earlier, one victim said she had struggled with anxiety as Kazi, who later moved to Birmingham, 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."

The court heard that some of the victims had attempted suicide, struggled with anxiety and developed eating disorders.

One victim, who was 13 years old when Kazi first contacted her, said he took her "innocence away".

"I hope one day I can get on with my life," she said.

The court heard how Kazi often used the fake name of "Reece" and provided a false photograph of a boy - who has not been identified - to aid his deception.

He would then demand they sent him progressively more intimate content.

The court heard if any of the victims were reluctant to send images he would tell them it was "what people do when they love each other".

If the victims refused, he would then threaten to "leak" the images that had already been sent to him or recorded by himself covertly on Snapchat to their friends and family.

In some cases, Kazi hacked into victims' social media accounts, shared the content with their friends and published the pictures on social media.

In one exchange, a victim said she felt "uncomfortable" sharing explicit photographs of herself, adding: "I don't want to do it again."

Kazi replied: "That's fine w me" - before revealing to the victim that he had a secret "back up" of images she had already sent him.

In another exchange with a victim over Snapchat, Kazi posed as "Reece" to ask for photographs of a victim in her underwear.

Kazi then sent a follow-up message asking the victim to share her live location with him on the app.

The investigation into Kazi's crimes began after a victim came forward to Derbyshire Police in December 2021.

The victim explained that she started speaking to Kazi on Snapchat when she was 13, believing him to be the same age.

In May 2022, the investigation was passed to Cheshire Constabulary, which said 180 possible victims had been identified in the initial investigation.

Kazi had left Chester - and  the university - but was later arrested at Heathrow Airport when he was re-entering the country on 21 July 2023. 

He was subsequently charged with 39 offences and pleaded guilty in July 2026 to 37 of the charges, with two left to lie on file.

He has also been charged by West Midlands Police with a further eight offences committed while on police bail for the Cheshire investigation.

Cheshire Police said these offences were considered as part of his overall sentence.

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".

"It is incomprehensible to me why any person would do what you did to those little girls," the court heard.

"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.

"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."

The judge said it was difficult to find any mitigating factors and said he doubted Kazi's remorse.

"You are a very dangerous person," he said.

"In a sophisticated way, you got into the minds of young people and got them to do things that were totally alien to them."

Talking about one victim, Everett said: "She won't look back on her childhood with any great pleasure - she will look on it totally blighted at what this fiend did to her."

He added: "These are not just pictures on a computer these are young lives that have been blighted."

Det Con Georgia Hughes, from Cheshire Police, said Kazi had not shown any remorse.

"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.

"Many lived in constant fear of what he would do if they failed to comply with his demands, and some have carried that fear with them for years.

"What should have been important formative years have instead been overshadowed by the trauma of Kazi's abuse."

Speaking on online safety, Sgt Ross Peel said the force's message to parents was to "speak to your children and take an interest in the apps and platforms they are using".

"The potential for online offending is vast," he said.

"And offenders can target children from anywhere in the world.

"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."

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