In February 2019, the Offender Database reported that Rhys Lynn, then 24, of Hawthorn Avenue, Cherry Willingham, Lincolnshire, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison at Lincoln Crown Court. Lynn carried out a “sophisticated and deliberate” campaign of online grooming and blackmail, using fake social media identities to terrorise young girls into sending him indecent images.
The court heard that Lynn operated on platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, posing as a teenage boy to gain the trust of his victims. Once he obtained naked photographs from the girls—the youngest of whom was just 12—he would transition to aggressive blackmail. He threatened to distribute their private images to “everyone” if they did not comply with further demands. In one particularly “unpleasant” instance, he threatened to rape a 15-year-old girl if she did not send him more photographs. The prosecution detailed how Lynn’s actions “wrecked” the victims’ lives, with one survivor stating her A-level prospects were destroyed by the trauma, and several others required long-term counselling.
When Lincolnshire Police raided Lynn’s home in August 2018, they uncovered a collection of 1,218 indecent images of children. Lynn admitted to five charges of inciting exploitation of a child, two charges of causing a child to watch a sexual act, and further charges related to making indecent images. Judge Steven Coupland noted that Lynn’s conduct was driven by a deep-seated sexual interest in young girls and was marked by extreme manipulation.
Rhys Lynn was sentenced to five years and four months in prison. Upon sentencing, Judge Coupland also granted an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which permanently restricts Lynn’s access to the internet and prohibits him from contacting minors or using social media under fictitious names.
As a result of his serious predatory offences, Lynn has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life. He is managed under the highest level of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) in the Lincoln area. This ensures that even after his release from prison, the police and probation services will maintain permanent, intensive monitoring of his residency and digital activities to prevent him from targeting further victims.
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