Teacher Jailed for Paying Minor for Explicit Snapchat Videos

A former teacher from Blackwood has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison after being found guilty of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Liam Cox, 29, used Snapchat to request explicit videos from an underage boy, offering payment in exchange for the content. The defendant denied all charges and falsely claimed to police that he was being blackmailed by the victim.

During sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge Daniel Williams said: “You had set up sometime before this offending a Snapchat account and you used that account to receive videos of your victim. Latterly, you would send him money for the videos which he was sending.”

The judge highlighted Cox’s calculated approach: “Your culpability is high. There was, I’m satisfied, a significant degree of a planning that in my judgement the whole purpose of adding him on Snapchat was to facilitate this offending.”

Cox, of Tynycoed Crescent, Cefn Fforest, showed no remorse and maintained his innocence throughout. He will serve half his sentence in custody before release on licence, must register as a sex offender for life, and is subject to a five-year restraining order. ⚖️