A court heard that the Bridgend mother, Rebekah Edwards, of a paedophile police officer, imprisoned for child sex abuse, concealed his phone in a cat cemetery to obstruct the inquiry and protect her paedophile son. Along with enabling his paedophile tendencies she showed no remorse for her part.
Lewis Edwards, 25, from Cefn Glas, Bridgend, utilised Snapchat to groom over 200 girls online and confessed to 160 charges of child sexual exploitation and extortion, encompassing 4,500 indecent photos of minors.
Rebekah Edwards, 48, and Mark Edwards, 51, the parents, were both indicted for obstructing justice by hiding devices.
Mark Edwards was exonerated, but Mrs. Rebekah Edwards acknowledged the accusation and received a two-year term at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday.
“What was on that phone in the garden, sadly we will never know,” said prosecutor Roger Griffiths.
“It must have contained material of great significance to his offending.”
Mrs Rebekah Edwards, a former social care worker for Bridgend council was heard by police talking to her son about what she should do with his phones, the court heard.
The prosecutor said Lewis Edwards was heard to reply: “Bury the black one.”
Mrs Rebekah Edwards handed two phones over to officers, but failed to mention the phone in the garden until prompted by officers.
Mr Griffiths said Mark Edwards was present at the time and that the couple exchanged looks before Mrs Edwards admitted “I buried the phone in the garden where I buried the cat”.
Mr Edwards then dug up the phone which was damaged with a smashed screen.
Defending Mrs Rebekah Edwards, Giles Hayes said that her “world had been turned upside down” when her son was arrested, something which made her “embark on a course of conduct that is completely out of character”.
Rebekah Edwards was “trying to assist her son who is now in very difficult circumstances”, he added.
Sentencing Rebekah Edwards to two years in prison, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said the offence was “too serious for anything other than an immediate custodial sentence”.
Lucy Dowdall from the Crown Prosecution Service said when Mrs Rebekah Edwards hid the phone “she demonstrated a lack of concern for the devastating impact of her son’s actions on innumerable young people and their families”.
“Her sole concern was for her paedophile son and not for his victims or helping them secure the justice they deserved,” Ms Dowdall said.
“The fact that Lewis Edwards involved his own family members shows how far he was prepared to go to cover up his offending, and his continued lack of remorse for his abhorrent behaviour.”
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