Man who made girl self-harm over Discord jailed

A teenage member of an online "sextortion" group who encouraged a younger girl to cut his name into her skin has been jailed for four years and nine months.

Eighteen-year-old Elijah Palmer, from Sheffield, contacted the 15-year-old on gaming platform Roblox before moving to chat room Discord and encouraging her to share increasingly extreme images.

Palmer previously pleaded guilty to crimes including causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, encouraging serious self-harm and perverting the course of justice.

Sentencing him at Sheffield Crown Court, Judge Peter Hampton said he was a "dangerous offender" who was only stopped by the victim's "bravery" in reporting him.

Members of the online 764 group, who are mostly teenage boys and young men, deliberately target "obviously vulnerable" individuals on social media platforms where they are involved in discussions of issues such as eating disorders or self-harm.

They build trust with victims, then extort them into sharing videos of self-harm, sex acts or other explicit material, and use these to "exert control" and blackmail them further.

The prosecution said Palmer had told police: "Basically it was like a cult and obviously I wanted to join it because of the thrill. I thought of it as like a thrill."

Palmer began building trust with the girl, then blackmailed and threatened her into committing increasingly degrading acts to gain "notoriety and standing" among the group.

In May 2025, he created an email address in her name and made a bomb threat which, if sent, would appear to have come from her.

He addressed it to her school and used ChatGPT to get information about the consequences on making such a bomb threat, using this to blackmail her.

He had the girl cut his name across her chest, make it "scar forever" and send images of this, which the judge described as "harrowing".

His username on Discord, where he spoke to the victim, was "Slitted", meaning a long narrow cut.

The judge said: "This represented an interest of yours in self-harm through cutting with a bladed article."

He had her spray paint the phrase "despite setback, 764 won't ever cease to exist" and "free slitted 764", and graffiti her own bedroom with "slitted is my one and only true father" and "I will worship him".

She was encouraged to send multiple sexual photos and videos and footage of her injuring herself.

He made her create a video where she read a script stating he was her "owner", calling him God and cursing mainstream religions, before eating the paper it was written on.

The victim blocked and reported Palmer online, which led to his arrest in June 2025.

After being released under investigation, he contacted her again asking her to change her statement to police.

In her victim impact statement, the girl said she was also contacted by people from other online groups, pressuring her to change her report.

She agreed "in fear" and was coerced by Palmer into drawing a satanic symbol on her chest and sending him another explicit video, the judge said.

She was later "strong enough" to go back to police and report the contact.

He was arrested and pleaded guilty to encouraging self-harm under the Online Safety Act, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and three counts of making indecent photographs of children.

He also admitted possessing an extreme pornographic image and perverting the course of justice.

The judge sentenced him to four years and nine months in prison with a further four years of extended licence.

He also handed Palmer a sexual harm prevention order and a restraining order relating to the victim, both of which will last for 10 years.

The 764 group, which was started in 2021, uses Nazi symbolism and gore as well as sexual and satanic imagery.

It holds details of what victims have been forced to do which allows multiple members to exploit one victim, in what Judge Hampton described as "pack behaviour".

He said he was satisfied that Discord was either "unable or unwilling" to protect its users from such abuse.

"Members of the public should be aware that Discord is a dangerous space," he added.

Caroline Deacon, the senior prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service in Yorkshire, said it was a "deeply disturbing case" involving "calculated and deliberate" targeting of the girl.

She said she hoped the victim's bravery would "inspire other victims to come forward in the knowledge the criminal justice system will taken them seriously".

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