A man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison following what has been described as a "truly mammoth investigation" into online child sexual abuse.

Bilal Kazi appeared at Chester Crown Court on Friday 13 November, where he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, followed by an additional eight years on extended licence.

The 27-year-old of Hubert Croft, Birmingham, had previously pleaded guilty to 37 charges of child sexual offences.

The investigation began when one of his victims reported the abuse to Derbyshire Police in November 2021.

Once it was established that Kazi's last known address was in Chester, the investigation was taken over by officers from Cheshire Constabulary's Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) in May 2022.

It would later uncover evidence of what investigators believe to be the largest network of offending ever encountered by OCAIT.

The victim told Derbyshire Police that she had began speaking to Kazi on Snapchat when she was 13, believing him to be the same age. Their conversations quickly turned sexual in nature, with Kazi asking the victim a number of inappropriate questions.

Kazi's behaviour escalated, and he began requesting naked images and videos from the victim. Over a short time, those requests became increasingly frequent and persistent.

In July 2021, the victim told Kazi that she only wanted to be friends and no longer wished to send him images. In response, Kazi became abusive, calling her names and claiming that she was his property.

He then threatened to distribute the photos and videos she had previously shared with him to her friends unless she obeyed his demands.

Fearing Kazi's threats, the victim felt compelled to continue sending him explicit images and videos.

Shortly afterwards, the victim's Snapchat account was hacked and the content she had shared with Kazi was sent to her friends. She subsequently reported Kazi to Derbyshire Police.

With Kazi's last known address in Chester, the case was transferred to Cheshire Constabulary, however, checks revealed that he had since left the area and his whereabouts were unknown.

He was circulated as wanted while enquiries to trace him continued. After leaving the country, he was arrested on his return to the UK at Heathrow Airport in July 2023 and was interviewed in relation to the allegations made by the first victim.

His mobile phone was subsequently seized and examined by the force's Digital Forensics Unit (DFU).

In what has been described as the largest network of offending ever encountered by OCAIT, officers identified 180 potential victims, with specialist Victim Identification Officers working to trace those targeted by Kazi.

As a result, 70 victims, aged between 11 and 17 at the time of Kazi's offending, were identified across 28 of the UK's 45 police forces. Once identified, each of the victims was visited by police officers and offered the opportunity to disclose their experiences of Kazi's offending.

The investigation revealed how Kazi used a consistent method to target his victims.

He would contact them 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 would quickly groom the victims into believing they were in a genuine relationship with him.

Once he had gained their trust, Kazi would begin requesting explicit images and videos from his victims. He manipulated the young girls into believing that sharing such content was a normal part of being in a relationship.

His demands would soon escalate, with victims being pressured into recording themselves performing sexual acts. When victims refused to comply, Kazi would threaten to share the images and videos they had already sent him.

In some cases, Kazi maintained contact with his victims for more than a year, deceiving them into believing they were in a relationship with someone entirely different.

Kazi was subsequently charged with 39 offences as part of Cheshire Constabulary's OCAIT investigation, relating to offending committed between August 2021 and August 2025.

He pleaded guilty to 37 of the charges, with two being 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. These offences were considered as part of his overall sentence.

The charges include causing a child aged 13-15 to engage in penetrative sexual activity, blackmail, and making indecent images of children.

Following the sentencing, 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.

"There is a misconception that online offences have less impact on victims than crimes committed in person, but that could not be further from the truth.

"The girls targeted by Kazi were young and vulnerable. For many, their interactions with him were their first experience of what they believed to be a romantic relationship.

"Exploiting that trust, Kazi manipulated them into believing that his behaviour was normal.

"His offending has had a profound and lasting impact on the victims. Many lived in constant fear of what he would do if they failed to comply with his demands, and some have carried that fear with them for years.

"What should have been important formative years have instead been overshadowed by the trauma of Kazi's abuse.

"I hope today's result provides the victims with a sense of closure now that Kazi has been held accountable for his actions, and I hope it allows them to move forward with their lives knowing that he can no longer cause harm to anyone else."

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.

"Our message to parents is to speak to your children and take an interest in the apps and platforms they are using. The potential for online offending is vast, and offenders can target children from anywhere in the world.

"By educating yourselves and your children about online safety and the risks associated with communicating with people they do not know online, you can help protect them from becoming victims of crime - the impact of which can be profound and long-lasting.

"No matter where you are or how you choose to offend, those who target children and vulnerable people will be identified and brought to justice."