A teenager who blackmailed and sexually abused 37 young girls online has been jailed for eight years.Â
Cory Jones, 19, gained the trust of children aged between 10 and 16 before asking them to send explicit pictures and footage of themselves in a two-year campaign of sexual exploitation.
He pleaded guilty to 69 offences including blackmail, causing a child to engage in sexual activity and distributing indecent images – and was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court.
Judge Jeremy Jenkins said Jones, who was described as socially isolated and ‘a loner’, had been ‘corrupted’ by watching pornography.
When some of the children refused to send more explicit images of themselves, the 19-year-old would threaten to post the ones he had already saved of them across social media in a blackmail bid.
Jones, of the village of Ynyswen, Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales, also sent sexual photos and videos of himself to the children. There were a total of 172 indecent images of children found on his phone after his arrest.
The court heard how he would contact his victims on messaging platform Snapchat, using an alias and lying about his age before asking them for nude photographs and videos.Â
James Wilson, prosecuting, told the court the children felt ‘sick’, ‘betrayed’ and ‘creeped out’ when Jones demanded the pictures.
Cory Jones (above) has been jailed for eight years after blackmailing and sexually abusing 37 young girls online over a two-year period
One victim, aged 12 at the time of the offences, said in a statement: ‘When this first happened to me, it made me feel very nervous and upset.
‘I was worried that people would find out what I had done and treat me differently.
‘Since telling the police, I’ve had some counselling… I blame myself for everything, really. I still find it very hard to talk about.’
Another victim said: ‘I trusted him and I thought he was my friend. He has made me feel stupid for believing everything he said to me.’
John Ryan, defending, urged the judge to consider Jones’s lack of maturity and his age at the time of the offending, which took place between 2022 and 2024, adding that he feels genuine remorse.
Sentencing, Judge Jenkins said: ‘This was a substantial investigation which led to no fewer than 37 young females making complaints against you.
‘You would groom some of them by showing them sexual images and coerce them into sending intimate photographs.
‘The effect on those individuals and their families was devastating and the harm that you caused them will remain, I’m quite sure, for many years to come.
‘If ever there was a case that highlights the dangers of children having unsupervised access to social media, then surely this is it.
‘Each was vulnerable, impressionable and naive. You took full advantage and exploited them for your own sexual gratification.
‘I have no doubt in my mind that you have been corrupted by watching pornography. You have a completely distorted view of loving relationships and matters sexually.’
Jones was sentenced to eight years in jail and will serve a minimum of five years and four months before being released. He will also be on the sex offenders’ register for life.
Lisa McCarthy, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘Cory Jones was deceptive and manipulative, coercing children to engage in acts to satisfy his own sexual gratification and blackmailing some by threatening to publish sexually exploitative images on social media when they refused.
‘This was a substantial and complex investigation, with the number of child victims quite shocking.
‘This case was brought as a result of significant liaison between the CPS and South Wales Police.
‘The CPS would like to thank the victims for the courage they have shown in bringing Cory Jones to justice.’
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Teenager, 19, who blackmailed and sexually abused 37 girls online is jailed for eight years