MAN ADMINISTERED TELEGRAM GROUP THAT SHARED INDECENT IMAGES
A MAN who was an administrator on a Telegram group that shared sickening images of children has been jailed.Edward Griffith-Davies shared an image of a boy posing naked, holding a sign, in order to be admitted access to the chat on the messaging app.
The defendant was also active in other chats, including one which featured bestiality.
The 42-year-old was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court after he had pleaded guilty to indecent images offences and causing a boy to engage in sexual activity.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that the images featured children aged from babies to teenagers and many “showed signs of pain”.
Judge Gary Wodhall said Griffith-Davies had an “obvious sexual interest in children” adding his offences were so serious that “only immediate custody can be justified.” The judge summarised the defendant’s offences before he passed sentence during the hearing on Monday afternoon, January 5.
The children in the images were mostly aged between four and 10.
The court heard that the defendant was thereafter made administrator and had been involved in chats on various platforms since 2011.
In a police interview, the defendant made no comment.
Griffith-Davies had pleaded guilty to making, between 2011 and 2024, more than 600 indecent images of children classed as Category A, the most serious, and more than 300 in category B.
He also admitted to distributing indecent images, of categories A and B, and possession of a prohibited image of a child and possession of extreme pornography.
The children in the images were mostly aged between four and 10.
Passing sentence, the judge said he would take the causing a boy to engage in sexual activity, which related to the defendant's getting a child to pose for a photograph to gain admission to the Telegram group, as the “lead offence” and passed concurrent sentences for the indecent images counts.
He added that as Griffith-Davies’ offending “did not involve any direct sexual assault”, he would reduce the starting point for the lead offence “before considering aggravating and mitigating factors”.
The judge said the offending was aggravated by the “vulnerability” of the victim and that the images were of “children in pain”.
In mitigation, the judge noted the defendant’s “previous good character”, his “frank admissions and remorse and mental health issues”.
He gave the 42-year-old, who was tearful as he appeared via video link from custody, a one-third reduction as credit for his guilty pleas.
He handed Griffith-Davies, of Bryntirion, Bedwas, Caerphilly, a sentence of four years of four months for the lead offence, reduced from six and a half years for his plea.
He passed concurrent terms of two years and four months, eight months, 12 months, 20 weeks and six weeks for the images offences.
This made the overall sentence four years and four months, of which the defendant will serve up to half in custody before being released on licence.
The judge also passed an order banning the defendant from entering St Helens, where he committed the offences, other than to travel through, and from contacting his victim for 15 years.
A Sexual Harm Prevention Order was passed and the defendant must notify the police of his personal particulars for the rest of his life.
