Bilal Kazi, 27, of Hubert Croft, Birmingham, has been jailed for 38 years at Chester Crown Court after admitting 37 charges of child sexual offences. Kazi posed as a 14-year-old boy named Reece on platforms including Snapchat, Roblox and Wink to trick victims into sending explicit images and videos. The sentencing follows what Cheshire Constabulary described as its largest investigation into online child sexual abuse, which identified 70 victims.
Investigation and victims identified
Kazi appeared at Chester Crown Court on November 13, where he was sentenced to 38 years imprisonment with an extended licence of 8 years. He had previously pleaded guilty to 37 charges, with two left to lie on file. He was also charged by West Midlands Police with a further eight offences committed while on police bail for the Cheshire investigation, which were considered as part of his overall sentence.
The investigation was taken over by Cheshire Constabulary's Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) in May 2022 after one victim reported the abuse to Derbyshire Police. That victim began speaking to Kazi on Snapchat when she was 13, believing him to be the same age. Their conversations quickly turned sexual, with Kazi requesting naked images and videos, and his demands became increasingly frequent and persistent.
In July 2021, the victim told Kazi she only wanted to be friends, and he became abusive, calling her names and claiming she was his property. He threatened to distribute the photos and videos she had shared unless she obeyed his demands. After her Snapchat account was hacked and the content was sent to her friends, she reported Kazi to Derbyshire Police in November 2021.
Arrest and forensic examination
The case was transferred to Cheshire Constabulary after enquiries established Kazi's last known address was in Chester, but he had since left the area and was circulated as wanted. It was later established he had left the country. He was arrested on his return to the UK at Heathrow Airport in July 2023 and interviewed in relation to the first victim's allegations.
His mobile phone was seized and examined by the force's Digital Forensics Unit (DFU), which uncovered evidence of what investigators believe to be the largest network of offending ever encountered by OCAIT. Officers identified 180 potential victims, with specialist Victim Identification Officers tracing those targeted using usernames and other data recovered from his device.
As a result, 70 victims, aged between 11 and 17 at the time of the offending, were identified across 28 of the UK's 45 police forces. Each victim was visited by police officers and offered the opportunity to disclose their experiences.
Method of offending and sentencing
The investigation revealed Kazi used a consistent method, contacting victims through social media platforms including Snapchat, Roblox and Wink, posing as a white British teenage boy called Reece. Using photographs of an unidentified boy, he groomed victims into believing they were in a genuine relationship. Once he gained their trust, he requested explicit images and videos, manipulating girls into believing such content was a normal part of a relationship. When victims refused, he threatened to share the images, and some continued to engage with him out of fear. In some cases, he maintained contact for more than a year.
Kazi was charged with 39 offences as part of the OCAIT investigation, relating to offending between August 2021 and August 2025. The charges include causing a child aged 13-15 to engage in penetrative sexual activity, blackmail, and making indecent images of children.
Detective Constable Georgia Hughes, of the Online Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: "The scale of Kazi's offending meant this was a truly mammoth investigation, requiring significant resources and close collaboration across the force. Thanks to the dedication and expertise of our colleagues in the OCAIT, Digital Forensics Unit and Victim Identification Unit, we were able to identify 70 victims across the UK and give them the opportunity to have their voices heard."
Detective Sergeant Ross Peel said: "Victims should never feel ashamed of what they have experienced. The responsibility for these offences lies solely with the offender, and we want anyone who has been subjected to this kind of abuse to know that they will be listened to, supported and taken seriously."
