Mother of paedophile ex police officer buried his phone in cat’s grave to hinder investigation
Lewis Edwards, 25, and Rebekah Edwards, 48, were sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court for perverting the course of justice.
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The mother of a child sex abuser and former police officer buried his phone in a cat grave to hinder the investigation, a court heard.
Rebekah Edwards, 48, concealed a phone belonging to her son, Lewis Edwards, which contained crucial evidence related to his online grooming and abuse of over 200 girls.
Mr Edwards, 25, previously of Cefn Glas, Bridgend, used Snapchat to groom hundreds of girls online before admitting 160 counts of child sexual assault and extortion involving 4,500 indecent photos of children. He instructed the young girls to take nude photos — sometimes wearing only school uniform items and conduct sexual acts. When they tried to disregard his requests, he threatened to share the photographs he already had or harm their families.
His parents, Rebekah, 48, and Mark Edwards, 51, were each charged with perverting the course of justice by concealing devices. Mark was acquitted, while Mrs Edwards admitted the allegation and was sentenced to two years at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday.
Prosecuting, Roger Griffiths said “sadly”, we will “never know” what was on “that phone in the garden.” He continued: “It must have contained material of great significance to his offending.”
Mrs Edwards, a former social care worker for Bridgend Council, was overheard by police discussing what she should do with her son’s phones, the court heard. According to the prosecutor, Lewis Edwards was heard saying, “Bury the black one.”
Mrs Edwards handed officers two phones but did not mention the one in the garden until prompted. Mr Griffiths said her husband was also there and the two exchanged looks before Mrs Edwards admitted: ”I buried the phone in the garden where I buried the cat”.
Mr Edwards then unearthed the phone, which had a broken screen. The judge, Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said Mrs Edwards’ offence was “too serious for anything other than immediate custodial sentence.”
Lucy Dowdall from the Crown Prosecution Service said Mrs Edwards: “Demonstrated a lack of concern for the devastating impact of her son’s actions on innumerable young people and their families.” She continued: “Her sole concern was for her paedophile son and not for his victims or helping them secure the justice they deserved.”
Lewis Edwards, a former South Wales Police officer, posed as a teenager to groom young females aged 10 to 16 into uploading inappropriate photographs of themselves. Despite the victims’ pleas to stop and threats to report him to the authorities, Mr Edwards continued to take advantage.
Mr Edwards received a two-year and eight-month sentence for continued possession of indecent pictures, as well as a 12-month sentence for perverting the course of justice. He will serve both terms simultaneously with his previous lifetime sentence for child sexual abuse. He was a police officer at the time of his predatory activity, having met one of his victims while on duty.