Detectives have revealed how ‘depraved and sadistic’ Karl Davies was brought to justice. Warning: this article contains references to self-harm and sexual abuse that readers may find disturbing.
04:00, 01 Nov 2025Updated 06:51, 01 Nov 2025
Karl Davies
A married quantity surveyor and dad-of-two, 42-year-old Karl Davies appeared to be a typical family man.
Police knew he was anything but. When officers arrived at the property in Birkenhead, Wirral, he was in bed with his wife. She had feared he was cheating on her. The truth was much, much worse.
Davies was in fact a ‘depraved’, ‘sadistic’ and manipulative sexual predator who had ‘catfished’ and groomed a vulnerable teenage girl from Greater Manchester.
He adopted multiple social media personas, which he used to ‘control’ her, before going on to sexually abuse her.
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As part of the horrific abuse, described by a senior detective as some of the worst he has seen, Davies went as far as giving the teenager a razor blade and encouraging her to self-harm. She did – and sent him pictures.
Davies has now become the first person to be convicted of encouraging serious self-harm to a child under the new Online Safety Act.
As he begins a 20-year jail sentence, detectives have detailed the painstaking work that went into bringing him to justice.
Police first became involved in July last year, when the then 14-year-old told a friend she had got into a man’s car. Her school was informed, which lodged a safeguarding concern and alerted police.
Officers identified the victim – who, at that stage, was adamant nothing had happened. Detective Sergeant Rob Griffiths, who led the investigation, and his team, still felt something wasn’t right.
“The very nature of the offending is that people have control of these young girls” he said. “So we have to take everything with a pinch of salt and look at the bigger picture.”
The girl was referred to a team of social workers who specialise in dealing with victims of grooming and child sexual exploitation (CSE). After working with her intensely for six months, she agreed to formally speak to police.
She gave a three-hour-long video interview in which she outlined the vile abuse, which had started online, in heart-breaking detail.
The girl, and initially officers, believed up to six men to be involved. A person, she believed to be a teenage boy the same age as her, had first messaged her on the social media site Discord in 2023, and intimate images were exchanged.
That person, who claimed to be called ‘Ben Wild’, introduced her to another person called ‘Chris.’
A razorblade was found at Davies’ home (Image: Greater Manchester Police )Victim first met Davies on app called Discord
In total, she was introduced to five further accounts, who she each believed was a separate person, and who communicated with her through Snapchat where messages are usually automatically deleted once they have been viewed.
These people would come in and out of her life over a period of several months. Some of the accounts would threaten her and suggest the others were dangerous criminals, as they pressured her into sending explicit videos.
They also stopped her from sleeping as they controlled every aspect of her life. However, one of them, ‘Mark’, painted himself as the ‘saviour’ who would protect her from the others, police said.
At one point he told her to ‘get rid’ of her chats with the others and said, referring to one of the other accounts, ‘oh yeah, he’s always like that. Like, he’d argue with his own reflexion (sic).’
The girl met up with ‘Mark’, who travelled over from Merseyside on four occasions over a six-week period in June and July of last year.
He would pick her up from school in his car, and whilst still in her uniform, would drive her to local car parks or other remote spots to abuse her, sometimes for several hours. He would also sometimes tell her to send videos of their acts to the other accounts.
He would also encourage the vulnerable girl, to self-harm. On one of the meetings, ‘Mark’ brought a razor blade with him, which the girl took away and used to cut herself. She took pictures of the severe injuries which she sent to ‘Mark’ and the other accounts.
‘Mark’ is reported to have said to her: “I hope I don’t get caught or I would have 16 years in prison.”
DS Griffiths said hearing the details of the case was heartbreaking for him and his team. “It was so impactful” he said. “It was very concerning to hear what another human can do to a child, some of the most vile abuse and really sadistic at times.”
(Image: Greater Manchester Police)Car became key to investigation
After giving her interview, officers had very little to go on, but had one concrete date for one of their meetings last summer, and knew the culprit must have travelled over from Merseyside.
It would have been too big a job to look at every car that made the journey that day. But the victim said she was into cars and that the perpetrator had even at one point bought her a car air freshener.
After showing the victim images of different kinds of cars, they managed to narrow down the make and model. They then used ANPR camera data to look at every Seat Ateca that had travelled between Stockport and Liverpool that day.
They found one was owned by a lease company, and, after further digging, traced it to Karl Davies. Detectives were then able to link him to the first online account that the victim had spoken to.
After further investigation, including looking at what Wi-Fi networks were used to set them up, they realised all the online accounts were in fact the same person, and that that person was Karl Davies.
He had used all of them as part of his evil and ‘sophisticated’ plan to exert control over her and pressure her into doing what he wanted
For some of them, he had stolen real people’s identities from open accounts on Facebook. One of those people was at one point arrested, before he explained to officers his name and details must have been used by someone else.
On February 11 this year, just three weeks after the girl’s interview, officers executed a warrant at his home on the Wirral.
The very car that officers had used to identify him, was parked outside. He is said to have showed no reaction when the arresting officers explained what he was being accused of.
(Image: Greater Manchester Police)’He appeared a normal man…The dark side came to light’
A razor blade was found during a search of his house.
He had recently got a new mobile phone for his birthday and had deleted his old one, meaning officers couldn’t examine it. However, the victim had saved some of the messages from her phone.
He provided no comment in interview.
His wife however provided a statement in which she said she suspected he was cheating and at one point had rung a number saved on his phone, and spoke to a female, which it later emerged was the victim.
“It’s shocking she has had to go through this” said DS Griffiths. “His offending has been abhorrent and vile. The abuse he has made this young girl carry out. It’s had a great impact in all aspects of her life, the control and sophisticated exploitation that he has used.
“It’s a sad state of affairs that a family man can do that. But the people who do this, the people who offend against children, come from all walks of life.
“It’s testament to the victim, that she came forward and spoke to police. For her to sit there and go through it must have taken an enormous amount of courage. It’s welcome that he’s going to be behind bars for a long time.”
After liaising with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), police and prosecutors agreed that his encouragement of self-harm should be dealt with in its own right. Section 184 of the 2023 Online Safety Act made it a criminal offence to encourage or assist serious self-harm.
Just one other person is believed to have been previously prosecuted for the offence, and Davies said to be the first where the victim was a child.
At a hearing on May 22 this year, he pleaded guilty to the offence as well as 10 counts of sexual activity with a child, four counts of meeting with a child following sexual grooming and two counts of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence. He was jailed for 20 years at Manchester Crown Court on Monday (October 20).
The prosecution read out an impact statement written by the victim’s social worker, which said: “The impact on this victim has been astounding. The defendant used power, control, fear and blackmail to exploit and abuse a child in plain sight.
“”It has obliterated her belief in safe relationships and she now struggles to leave her home. It has impaired her life chances, friendships and relationships and left her isolated.
“She should never feel unsafe to go to school or endure sleepless nights. Her scars will forever be a reminder of the pain she was encouraged to inflict on herself.
“She said she no longer wanted to be alive due to what she was encouraged to do, and the thought of anyone else seeing the videos.
“It has also harmed her parents, having to hear what she endured. They struggled to process it and feel responsible. The victim held shame for the abuse she endured, but the strength it has taken her to talk about what has happened has been astounding.”
The court then heard that Davies had three previous convictions for non-related and non-recent offences, with the exception of an incident in November 2021, when he was seen by police officers ‘kerb-crawling’ for sex workers in Liverpool.
A lock-knife was also once found in the car by police and Davies was convicted of possession of an offensive weapon.
“He appeared as a normal man, married, with two children, living in a respectable area on the Wirral with a good job. The dark side came to light” Davies’ barrister, Brendan Carville, said. His family now ‘want nothing to do with him’, he added.
Judge Hilary Manley said: “These are grave crimes, perpetrated by you against a vulnerable young girl. You terrorised, controlled, manipulated and demeaned her. You destroyed her childhood and adolescence. You caused her severe harm which will be life-long.”
She continued: “Another hallmark of your depraved and sadistic behaviour was to encourage her to self-harm and share images of this. To encourage a vulnerable young girl in this way plumbs the depths of abhorrent behaviour.”
Where to go if you’ve been affected by rape or sexual assault
– Saint Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre, Manchester provides a comprehensive and co-ordinated response to men, women and children who live, or have been sexually assaulted, within Greater Manchester. They offer forensic medical examinations, practical and emotional support as well as a counselling service for all ages. Services are available on a 24-hour basis and can be accessed by calling 0161 276 6515.
– Greater Manchester Rape Crisis is a confidential information, support and counselling service run by women for women over 18 who have been raped or sexually abused at any time in their lives. Call on 0161 273 4500 or email help@manchesterrapecrisis.co.uk
– We Are Survivors provides specialist trauma informed support to male victims in Greater Manchester who have experienced sexual abuse, rape or sexual exploitation. Call 0161 236 2182 for help.
– Always call 999 in an emergency
Judge Manley said he had a ‘monstrous sense of sexual entitlement.’ “You have expressed some remorse but said previously that the victim ‘just popped up’ on Snapchat and did not look underage” she said. “It is difficult to reconcile that with the fact that you collected a girl from school still wearing her uniform.”
“It’s fantastic to get an offender like Karl Davies off the streets and offline” DS Griffiths said. “I dread to think what further could have happened if he wasn’t brought into custody, and it’s great to get a result for the victim.”
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.”
For the victim, she is continuing to receive support as she tries to rebuild her life.
Detectives do not know how Davies found the victim, and say their enquiries have not identified any further victims.
“We have not identified any further victims, but if there are any other victims out there, GMP are here to support people and if you come forward you will be supported, and we will carry out investigations into the information you give us” he said.
“Anyone with any concerns about the child’s safety online should also contact the force, and they would ‘investigate fully’ he added.