Two men who coerced vulnerable teenage girls into ‘scarring themselves for life’ by carving names into their skin have been jailed in a landmark case.
Charlie Johnson, 24, and Prince Singh, 23, ‘weaponised’ their victims’ young age to encourage them into extreme acts of self-harm then mocked them and shared images of the abuse online.
One of the two girls told Woolwich Crown Court she still has nightmares of his abuse. She said: ‘I was made to feel like everything was my fault, even when he hurt me.’
The case marks the first time defendants have been convicted by jury trial of assisting or encouraging serious self-harm under the Online Safety Act of 2023.
While others have pleaded guilty to offences of this type, Johnson’s trial was the first time they were tested in court.
Today, at Woolwich Crown Court, Johnson was sentenced to four years in prison, while Singh was sentenced to two years and nine months.
Earlier, the court heard Johnson and Singh would share ‘nudes’ and self-harm images they received on a Discord group they ran together.
The indecent image offences both men are charged with relate to one of the two women.
After contact with Johnson, which began when the victim was living in a children’s home at 16, Singh then began messaging her, giving her ‘the impression that he cared’, the court heard.
Singh revealed his ‘true views’ on the Discord server with Johnson, saying ‘I’m going to ruin her life’ and expressing the desire to leave her ‘scarred for life’.
He wrote: ‘Stage one; befriend, stage two; learn the name of school and work place, stage three; sit back and drink a slush puppy while her life falls to shit.’
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Evidence of the indecent images and encouraging self-harm of girls were found on various devices taken from the defendants’ bedrooms when they were arrested.
These included references and pictures of other girls who were not involved in the trial, the court heard.
One of the victims told the court on Wednesday that despite the trauma inflicted on her, she is ‘proud’ they had stepped forward.
‘We knew we had to say something to stop this happening to other girls in the future,’ she said.
Johnson was convicted after trial of two counts of encouraging self-harm, two counts of distributing indecent images of a child, along with three counts of assault by beating.
He admitted two counts of making an indecent image, while Singh admitted counts of making and distributing indecent images of a child along with encouraging serious self-harm of one of the victims.
Jessica Lunan, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘Charlie Johnson and Prince Singh committed devastating acts of violence and coercion against their young vulnerable victims.
‘Through online chat rooms, they exploited and preyed upon young girls from different parts of the UK by illegally sharing indecent images of them and encouraging them to commit acts of self-harm.
‘Our prosecutors work tirelessly to protect victims and bring offenders to justice. Sharing indecent images of children is a criminal offence, and those who do so will face the full force of the law.’
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