A victim’s mother has told a court she feels “nothing other than hate” for a paedophile police officer.

Former South Wales Police officer Lewis Edwards has admitted 160 child sex offences.

Cardiff Crown Court has previously heard he had over 200 victims.

Edwards, now 24, did not turn up for the hearing and it continued in his absence.

One of his victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, read out her statement in court on Tuesday.

She was 13 years old at the time of Edwards’s offending.

“I’m writing this because I want to have my voice heard,” she said. “I felt sorry for him because I thought he was having a hard time.”

She said the impact on her had been “struggling with mental health and time off at school for two years”.

“I thought it was all my fault and I was in trouble,” she added. “I found it really traumatising having to repeat my story.”

The victim said she didn’t think she would “ever get over this trauma but it has made [her] stronger”.

She said the “hardest thing” for her was finding out he was a police officer.

“He should have to hear all of the victims’ statements,” she said.

She said she wanted Edwards to know that he “[had] not won”.

“My trauma does not define me,” she added.

The girl’s mother gave a victim impact statement from the witness stand.

She said her daughter came to her “shaking and crying” in December 2021.

When she found out what her daughter had been through, she “felt like [she’d] been kicked in the stomach”.

Since then, she said she lived “in fear of it happening again”.

“No parent should ever have to endure this, the guilt is constant,” she said.

“The smirk he gave us in court proves he has no remorse or anything.”

The mother said she “could not be more proud of [her] daughter and the strength she has shown”.

“We will never forgive you [Edwards], we feel nothing for you other than hate,” she said.

The hearing continues.

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