Overview

• Max Hollingsbee, 21, was sentenced to five years and two months after pleading guilty to 42 charges, including grooming, blackmail, and hacking underage girls between 2021 and 2023.
• He targeted victims across the UK using social media platforms such as Wizz, Snapchat, and Instagram, coercing them into sending indecent images through catfishing and blackmail.
• Thousands of indecent images and videos of underage girls were found on his devices, some obtained through hacking or sold online.
• Hollingsbee will be subject to a 10-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and placed on the sex offenders register for life.
• Police and the Public Prosecution Service commended the bravery of victims who came forward and confirmed ongoing efforts to identify additional victims and combat online child exploitation.