Chester Student Jailed 30 Years for Grooming at Least 70 Girls
A former University of Chester student has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for grooming at least 70 girls online. Bilal Kazi, 27, will serve at least 20 of them before he can apply for parole.
How the deception worked
Kazi, a student from India, was studying at the University of Chester. Between August 2021 and August 2025 he contacted girls aged between 10 and 17 on apps including Snapchat, Wink and Roblox.
He posed as a 14-year-old white British boy, often using the name "Reece". The court heard he sent a fake photo of a boy who remains unidentified. His victims were led to believe they were in a relationship with him.
Then came the demands for ever more intimate images and videos. If a girl hesitated, he told her such behaviour was normal between people in love. If she refused, he threatened to leak what he already had, to her friends and family. Some of that material he had recorded covertly on Snapchat.
In some cases he went further. He also broke into some victims' social media accounts, passed the content on to their friends and posted pictures publicly.
The messages and the damage they did
One exchange between Kazi and a victim captures the pattern. The victim said she was uneasy about sharing explicit photographs. Kazi replied that it was fine, then revealed he held a secret back-up of the images she had already sent.
Victims described lasting damage. Some had attempted suicide, struggled with anxiety or developed eating disorders. One victim said in an impact statement read at Chester Crown Court that Kazi had stripped her of her sense of privacy and security. Another, who was 13 when he first contacted her, said he had robbed her of her innocence.
Judge Stephen Everett called Kazi a sexual predator who, in his view, took advantage of poorly protected social media sites. Mitigation, he said, was hard to see, and he did not believe Kazi was sorry. "You are a very dangerous person," he told him.
From first complaint to sentence
The case began when a victim went to Derbyshire Police in December 2021. She had started speaking to Kazi on Snapchat at 13, believing he was her age. In May 2022 the inquiry passed to Cheshire Constabulary, which said the initial investigation had identified 180 possible victims.
Kazi had by then left Chester and the university. He was arrested at Heathrow on 21 July 2023, as he came back into the country. He was charged with 39 offences and in July 2026 pleaded guilty to 37, among them making indecent images, blackmail and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Two charges were left to lie on file.
A separate West Midlands Police case adds eight more charges, all from his time on bail over the Cheshire inquiry. Cheshire Police said those were taken into account in his overall sentence.
Besides the 20-year minimum, Kazi will be on the sex offenders register for life. An eight-year licence period applies from the point he becomes eligible for parole.
The police message to parents
Det Con Georgia Hughes of Cheshire Police said Kazi showed no remorse. For many girls, she said, their contact with him was what they took to be a first romantic relationship, and some had lived in fear of him for years.
Sgt Ross Peel urged parents to "speak to your children and take an interest in the apps and platforms they are using". He added that offenders can target children from anywhere in the world.
Source: BBC News