First person to be convicted under Online Safety Act of encouraging a child to self-harm jailed for 20 years
42-year-old Karl Davies targeted the teenager, from Stockport, online, before meeting and abusing her in person
Last updated 20th Oct 2025
A man who encouraged a vulnerable young girl to self-harm herself while sexually abusing her over a period of several months has been jailed for 20 years, with an additional five years on licence.
Karl Davies (06/02/1983), of Wirral, posed as several different men to groom and manipulate his victim, including making fake social media profiles in which he adopted various personalities.
Davies previously pleaded guilty to seventeen offences at his plea hearing at Manchester Crown Court on the 22nd of May, including ten counts of sexual activity with a child, four of grooming, and two of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.
He additionally pleaded guilty to the offence of encouraging or assisting serious self-harm. That offence is one of the first prosecuted in the country, and the first case prosecuted which involved a child. The offence falls under the Online Safety Act 2023.
The offences began in June 2023, when a Snapchat account using the name ‘Ben’ messaged the girl, who was aged 13 at the time. The communication soon led to image sharing, before ‘Ben’ encouraged the girl to share images with another account under the name ‘Chris’.
Over the following weeks, several accounts contacted the girl, disappearing and re-appearing at various points, with phone calls and further image sharing taking place.
The accounts were in fact all managed by Karl Davies.
The accounts fell under different names and alternated between blackmailing her to send indecent images, or acting supportive of her issues. This continued for several months, with the girl sending multiple videos at the request of the different accounts.
This included the girl being asked to send videos of her hurting herself, using items at the encouragement of the accounts.
Eventually, by June 2024, one of the accounts under the name ‘Sean’ told the girl that she had to meet his friend ‘Mark’ to engage in sexual acts.
That month, Davies, under the guise of ‘Mark’, travelled from his home address in the Wirral to Stockport, where he picked up the girl, then aged 14, in her school uniform. While there, he abused the girl in his car.
This occurred several times throughout June and July – Davies would pick the girl up, sexually abuse her, and then go home, sometimes telling the girl to send videos of their acts to the other accounts.
Throughout this time, some of the accounts encouraged the girl to hurt herself, with Davies providing her with a razor during one of their meet-ups for the purpose of self-harm.
The girl subsequently sent images of her injuries to Davies’ accounts.
In January 2025, the girl bravely came forward, and during an interview with police, went through all the details of the incidents.
An investigation was immediately launched and a car matching the description provided by the girl was seen travelling from Liverpool to Stockport on one of the days Davies met up with her.
Further work was completed on social media accounts, tracing their internet origin to Davies’ address on the Wirral, as well as links to an email in his name.
Davies was arrested on 11 February this year and remanded in custody. He provided no comment to his subsequent interview.
In a powerful victim impact statement read by the girl's social worker, it describes the abuse as having a "detrimental impact on the girl's emotional health" as well describing the 'trauma and excruciating physical pain' she has suffered.
The worker added: "The strength it has taken for her to feel able to talk about the abuse has been astounding and I have seen a significant change in her demeanour having finally been able to tell her story."
Detective Sergeant Robert Griffiths, from GMP’s Stockport district, said: “Davies callously and methodically exploited a vulnerable girl, subjecting her to disgusting abuse and vile, degrading acts.
“He is a dangerous individual who has committed horrible crimes – encouraging a young girl to harm herself is particularly abhorrent. By using fakes personas to emit sustained control over this young girl, he severely impacted all aspects of her life and I am glad he is now behind bars, where he can be no one but himself.
“I want to take this opportunity to praise the girl who was the victim in this case. Her bravery and resilience in providing information to officers was truly courageous, and I know she is continuing to get the support she needs as she moves forward with her life.
“This has been a particularly hard case to work through, and the action taken by officers – including liaising with the CPS, trawling through footage, and checking countless messages – has been truly exceptional.
“The social workers at Aspire have worked tirelessly with the victim over recent months, and their support was instrumental in helping her reach a point where she felt safe and able to speak about what had happened to her. They have acted with true compassion and took a trauma-informed approach to understand and help the victim.
“In addition, the support we received working with Toex and the analytic work carried out, greatly assisted in us piecing together the puzzle of Davies’s deceit.
“I want to remind people within Greater Manchester that officers across every district are there to help you. If you have ever suffered from sexual abuse or grooming, then please do get in touch with us. Whether it was 24 hours ago, or 24 years ago, we will be there to help you get the justice you deserve.”
Stacey Gosling, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: “As a seasoned prosecutor of grooming cases I have never before seen such sophisticated methods used to target a young person.
“Karl Davies went to great lengths to hide his identity and position himself as the child’s protector when he was anything but.
“He groomed the girl using six different snapchat accounts, first luring her in with compliments and building her trust, before turning to threats when she wouldn’t share explicit materials and do what he asked of her.
“He also encouraged her to self-harm, giving no thought to the lasting impact his vile and cruel abuse would have on his young victim.
“I can only hope that as Davies begins his prison sentence, the victim can begin to move forward knowing her vile abuser has been brought to justice.”
An NSPCC spokesperson said: "Children deserve to live safe and happy lives without being targeted by predators. It is now vital the victim in this shocking case has access to all the support she needs to move forward with her life.
“The sentencing of Karl Davies demonstrates how crucial the Online Safety Act is for holding perpetrators to account. We hope news of this imprisonment will spread and act as a deterrent to others before they commit any harm to children.
"Likewise, tech companies must do much more to make their platforms safe spaces for children and young people and protect them from grooming.”
“We seriously encourage anyone who has concerns about the welfare of a child to contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000, or email help@nspcc.org.uk “
Greater Manchester Police can be contacted via 101 or through the Live Chat function on the website. Reports can also be made anonymously through the independent charity – Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.