Bilal Kazi, 27, has been jailed for 30 years after grooming at least 70 girls and blackmailing them into sending sexually explicit images and videos. The student from India, who was studying at the University of Chester, targeted girls aged between 10 and 17 using apps including Snapchat, Wink and Roblox between August 2021 and August 2025.
Posed as teenager to gain trust
Kazi posed as a 14-year-old white British boy called "Reece" and convinced victims they were in a relationship with him. He pleaded guilty to 37 charges, including making indecent images, blackmail and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
He must serve at least 20 years before becoming eligible for parole and will remain on the sex offenders register for life.
Threats and exploitation
The court heard Kazi demanded increasingly intimate images, telling girls reluctant to send them that it was "what people do when they love each other". If they refused, he threatened to share images already sent with their friends and family.
In some cases, he hacked victims' social media accounts and published images online. Some victims attempted suicide, developed eating disorders and struggled with anxiety.
Victims speak out
One victim, who was 13 when Kazi first contacted her, said he had taken her "innocence away". Another said Kazi had "taken away a sense of privacy and security", adding: "The harm caused is not limited to the time events took place - they continue to affect my daily life."
Judge Stephen Everett described Kazi as a sexual predator and a "very dangerous person". He said: "In a sophisticated way, you got into the minds of young people and got them to do things that were totally alien to them."
Arrest and further charges
Det Con Georgia Hughes, from Cheshire Police, said the girls had been young and vulnerable, and many had lived in constant fear of what Kazi would do if they refused his demands.
Kazi was arrested at Heathrow Airport on July 21, 2023, after returning to the UK. He has also been charged with eight further offences by West Midlands Police, committed while on bail in the Cheshire investigation. The force said these were considered as part of his overall sentence.
