An east London man who posed as a 23-year-old on Snapchat to groom a 14-year-old girl has been jailed for five years after travelling to Kent to sexually assault her.
Kostyantyn Avdan, 30, of Rosefield Gardens in Poplar, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday, October 2, after a jury found him guilty of a string of child sexual offences.
The court heard that Avdan first contacted the girl through the messaging app in 2021. She told him early on that she was only 14 — but instead of walking away, he lied about his own age, claiming to be 23, and set about grooming her.
Over time their exchanges turned sexual. Avdan demanded explicit images from the teenager and, in the summer of 2022, arranged to meet her in person. On July 31, 2022, he travelled from London to Gravesend, where he sexually assaulted the girl before returning to the railway station.
His offending did not stop there. In the days and weeks that followed, Avdan kept messaging the teenager, sending her messages discussing sexual activity.
The abuse came to light when the offences were reported to police. Avdan was arrested on June 16, 2023, and detectives examining his phone uncovered hundreds of messages he had sent to the girl — evidence that would prove central to the case against him.
Avdan, a Ukrainian national, denied the charges and the case went to trial. The jury convicted him of sexual communication with a child, sexual activity with a child and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
As well as the five-year prison term, the judge imposed a 20-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, severely restricting Avdan’s contact with children and his use of the internet once he is released.
“Avdan deliberately targeted and groomed a vulnerable child for his own sexual gratification, fully aware that she was only 14 years old. His actions have had a profound impact on the victim, and I would like to commend her courage in coming forward and supporting this investigation.”
Detective Sergeant Alison Elton
Avdan’s conviction is the latest in a series of child sexual offence cases to come before the courts. In Surbiton, William Raison was jailed for 12 years over child sexual abuse, while a senior church figure was jailed in London for eight and a half years over non-recent sexual offences.
How the investigation unfolded
The case against Avdan was built painstakingly over several years. After the offences were reported, detectives arrested him in June 2023 and seized his devices. Forensic examination revealed hundreds of messages charting the full arc of the grooming — from the first contact on Snapchat, through the increasingly sexual demands, to the arrangement of the meeting in Gravesend and the messages that followed the assault.
That digital trail left Avdan with little room to manoeuvre, but he nevertheless denied the offences, forcing the case to trial. The jury saw through his denials and convicted him on every count. Sentencing followed at Maidstone Crown Court on October 2, bringing a case that began with a single message in 2021 to its conclusion more than five years later.
Online grooming: the warning signs parents should know
Avdan’s offending followed a pattern that police and children’s charities say is depressingly familiar. Groomers typically lie about their age to appear closer to the child’s own, shower their target with attention, and gradually steer conversations towards sexual topics. Demands for explicit images, insistence on secrecy, and attempts to arrange a face-to-face meeting are all classic red flags.
Parents are urged to talk openly with their children about who they speak to online, to check privacy settings on apps such as Snapchat, and to watch for signs of secrecy around phones or new contacts. If something feels wrong, it can be reported to the police, to the NSPCC, or to the National Crime Agency’s CEOP Safety Centre. Concerns about the behaviour of adults towards children have also surfaced in other courtrooms, including in the trial of a Bexleyheath teacher.
Detective Sergeant Elton’s tribute to the victim’s courage underlined why reporting matters: without her willingness to come forward, Avdan might never have faced justice.
