British ‘Com’ member who abused more than 100 girls worldwide jailed for two years

British ‘Com’ member who abused more than 100 girls worldwide jailed for two years

A 20-year-old man was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for coercing more than 100 girls worldwide into sexual and self-harm activity using platforms such as Snapchat, Telegram and Discord, British authorities said.

Justin Swaddle, of Leeds in northern England, targeted 117 female victims aged 13 to 17, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA). He was 17 at the time of the offenses and operated under aliases including “Epstein” and “Moscow.”

Swaddle was part of what British authorities call a “Com” group — loosely-knit online communities whose members coerce victims into self-harm and sexual abuse for the sake of gaining status among peers.

Investigators found Swaddle manipulated victims into sending sexual images and carving his usernames into their bodies, threatening to leak intimate material or to contact their schools and parents if they refused.

He also attempted to incite a child to sexually abuse a younger child on camera. Investigators recovered hundreds of indecent images of children, some as young as three, from his devices.

Eight of the victims were located in the United Kingdom. The NCA, which led the investigation, worked with law enforcement partners in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Norway and New Zealand to identify and safeguard victims.

Swaddle pleaded guilty at Leeds Crown Court to multiple child sexual abuse offenses and blackmail. Sentencing him on Monday, Judge Peter Kelson described him as “a predatory shark preying on children swimming in the dark waters of the internet.”

He will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years and must sign the Sex Offenders Register.

Authorities in the UK and elsewhere have increasingly warned of Com groups like the one Swaddle operated in.

“Offenders and victims are usually in the same groups, and offenders are usually not motivated by money or sexual gratification but by the status and notoriety that comes with sharing shocking content with other members,” the NCA stated.

Last year, the FBI issued a warning about Com groups more broadly, usually composed of English-speaking minors involved in a range of cybercriminal activity. Those groups have been linked to the extortion of minors and distribution of child sexual abuse material through to other activities including swatting, SIM swapping, cryptocurrency thefts and ransomware attacks.

That followed an East London-based member of a Com network being convicted of making indecent images of children, again perpetrating the crimes when he was 17 years old.

“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,” said the NCA’s Danielle Pownall.

“While the number of people involved in Com groups are relatively small, the impact it has on victims is high and long-lasting, as Swaddle’s offending shows,” she added.