Warped teen who forced 117 girls to send nude photos & carve his name on their bodies after grooming campaign is jailed

A TWISTED teen who forced 117 girls to perform sex acts and carve his name on their bodies in a sadistic grooming campaign has been jailed. Justin Swaddle – then aged 17 – preyed on his victims all over the world on Discord, Telegram and Snapchat under the usernames “Epstein”, “Rugen” and “Moscow”. Justin Swaddle targeted the girls on Discord and other apps Credit: Getty He has now been jailed for two years Credit: PA He operated as part of a Com group, which are loose online communities that share extreme graphic material and manipulate victims to allow them to commit both sexual and violent child abuse. Members are mainly teenage boys driven by a desire for status, rather than sexual desire or money – with notoriety achieved by sharing more extreme content and committing increasingly serious crimes. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Swaddle targeted 117 female victims aged 13 to 17, eight of whom were in the UK. The teen requested nude images, made his victims perform sex acts on themselves and forced them to self harm. He also demanded the girls carve his online aliases into their skin as part of the twisted abuse campaign. Swaddle – now aged 20 – has been jailed for two years after he admitted two counts of inciting a girl 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity without penetration, inciting a girl 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity with penetration and blackmail. He also pleaded guilty to of making an indecent photograph of a child in categories A, B and C, as well as possessing an extreme pornographic image and possessing a prohibited image of a child. The court heard Swaddle gained his victims’ trust before gathering personal information about them. Most read in The Sun He then threatened to share their intimate images or report them to their school or parents to “incite further content”. One victim, aged 17, said she met him on social media platform Discord in November 2022 and they then moved to Snapchat. The conversation became sexual and escalated into discussions of self-harm. Swaddle requested nude images of her and demanded she carve his username in her body, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. He obtained her name, address and school details and recorded calls where sexual activity had taken place to share with a group. Swaddle threatened to use her personal details if she did not provide further images and videos. Other Telegram messages showed he had attempted to incite a child to sexually abuse a young child and record it for him. He again threatened to indecent images if they did not send him more content. Swaddle was first arrested by West Yorkshire Police in October 2023 for offences including the possession, making and distribution of indecent images. After officers seized his devices, they discovered indecent images of children in categories A to C, with A being the most severe. Detectives estimated the images on his devices showed children aged between three and 17. The NCA started their investigation in January 2024 and uncovered hundreds of conversations, all sexual and involving young females. Investigators worked with law enforcement partners in the USA, Canada, Australia, Norway and New Zealand to speak to and safeguard victims. Danielle Pownall, Operations Manager at the NCA, said: “Justin Swaddle targeted young and vulnerable victims all over the world to abuse and scare them into carrying out shocking self-harm and sexual activity, purely to gain popularity with his peers online.”