Man jailed for 16 years in 'sextortion' case as police appeal for victims

A 31-year-old man has been jailed for 16 years after sexually assaulting and blackmailing multiple young men, including two teenagers.

Waleed Saeed was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, after pleading guilty to charges relating to four victims, and being found guilty by a jury on charges relating to another, in March.

The Metropolitan Police said Saeed began offending in 2018 and targeted young men from South Asian and Muslim backgrounds, believing they would be less likely to contact police.

Detective Constable Peter Collington, who led the Met probe, said: "The pattern of offending we have uncovered is deeply disturbing and shows a level of deliberate manipulation and cruelty that has caused immense harm to innocent men, with two of them being just 15 and 17 at the time."

The force's investigation began in August 2024 following reports of a rape in a London park. The victim said he had exchanged messages with someone he believed to be a transgender woman.

He then received threatening messages from another account run by Saeed, who revealed his gender and threatened to release the images if he did not receive payment.

When the victim said he could not pay, Saeed demanded that they meet and over the course of the following weeks, coerced the victim into late-night meetings in a London park, where he sexually assaulted and raped him.

Police arrested Saeed in November 2024 after tracing online accounts back to the 31-year-old - and after seizing his devices, detectives found evidence linked to other victims.

They later undertook extensive crosschecks of older, unsolved cases and uncovered reports dating as far back as 2018.

On 2 March, Saeed pleaded guilty to charges including two counts of blackmail and two counts of making indecent photographs of a child.

Later in the same month, he was found guilty of:

? Four counts of rape of a man aged 16 or over

? One count of attempting to rape a man aged 16 or over

? One count of causing a male to engage in penetrative sexual activity

? One count of threatening to share a photograph or film of a person in an intimate state

? One count of blackmail.

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Police appeal for other victims

The Met is now appealing for other victim-survivors to come forward.

DC Collington said: "Following his sentence, I am making a direct appeal to other victim-survivors who may not have had the confidence to come forward, to please contact us.

"We want to be absolutely clear that no one should ever have their sexuality exploited or weaponised against them in this way. You will be treated with compassion, sensitivity and absolute confidentiality.

"What has been done to you is wrong, and we will do everything in our power to support you."

(c) Sky News 2026: Man jailed for 16 years in 'sextortion' case as police appeal for victims