Sheffield teen involved in sadomasochistic group encouraged vulnerable girl to self-harm & send sexual images
Palmer asked the girl to provide photographic proof of the acts he was pressuring her into carrying out.
A Sheffield teenager encouraged a vulnerable girl to self-harm and send him sexually explicit images, after becoming involved with a “sextortion and sadomasochistic online network.”
18-year-old Elijah Palmer this afternoon (Thursday, June 18, 2026) became the first person from the South Yorkshire region to be sentenced for the offence of encouraging the serious self-harm of another, under new legislation.
Sheffield Crown Court heard how Palmer targeted the girl, after becoming involved with the “764” group – a sextortion and sadomasochistic online network whose members deliberately target vulnerable victims to extort them for extreme and twisted “content” to share with other members.
Once a victim has been targeted and abused by a member, their personal details and the “content” they have been pressured into making is shared with others. The court was told it is standard practice for the same victim to be further targeted and abused by other members of the 764 group.
Palmer, then aged 17, identified the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as a target on the online gaming platform Discord – before subjecting her to an escalating campaign of intimidation, exploitation and coercion.
He pressured her into sexual and self-harm after blackmailing her using a bomb threat he threatened to send to her school, using an email address he created in her name.
She watched on from the public gallery, positioned above the courtroom, as Palmer’s horrific catalogue of crimes against her were detailed.
Dressed in a blue suit, white shirt and black tie, Palmer looked directly at the girl on a couple of occasions during the course of his sentencing hearing, but spent the majority of it with his head down, facing towards the floor.
In a hearing which concluded a few moments ago, Palmer received a prison sentence of four years, nine months imprisonment in a young offenders’ institute for his crimes, which also includes charges of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, perverting the course of justice, and making indecent images of children.
Sending him to begin his sentence, Judge Peter Hampton told him: “Anyone who encourages children to abuse or harm themselves should expect severe punishment and this sentence should serve as a warning.”
He added: “It was her bravery that was the only reason your offending came to an end. You did not desist from terror.”
Judge Hampton also judged Palmer, formerly of Badger Close, Woodhouse, Sheffield, to be a dangerous offender, and in a bid to protect the public, made him the subject of an extended licence period of four years, bringing his total sentence to one of eight years, nine months.
He also made Palmer the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, and told him he must remain on the sex offenders’ register for life.
He said it was clear that Palmer’s central motivation for carrying out the offences was “thrill seeking.”
Judge Hampton told Palmer: “As you said to Dr Bellis: ‘Truthfully, some part of me enjoyed that someone bled for me’.
“You fully embraced the purpose and activities of the 764 group.”
“In my judgment, you are an intelligent and mature young man, and ultimately it was your choice to act as you did for no more reason than personal gratification and thrill seeking,” he added.
Moving to the 764 group, Judge Hampton described it as a “decentralised criminal network” primarily involved in child exploitation, cyber extortion, sadomasochism, neo-Nazism and satanism.”
“The group is notorious for forcing victims to carve symbols, names or numbers into their skin as a show of ownership by the group.”
He said of their methods of recruiting victims: “Members will look for online spaces where children are discussing issues such as depression, eating disorders or self-harm, where the chances of finding a vulnerable victim are increased. These online spaces serve as entry points, where perpetrators establish victims, luring them onto more private messaging platforms and groups where trust is established and abuse begins.”
Judge Hampton suggested “pack behaviour” is common amongst members of the “764” group, adding: “Members also share methods in how to effectively extort victims and carry out abuse.
“Once such abusive material is obtained it is shared with members to gain notoriety and standing within the group.
“The more sickening or extreme the material, the more acclaim there is to be gained.”
Abuser threatened to send bomb hoax in victim’s name to force her to comply
Gordon Stables, prosecuting, said the “extreme acts” Palmer blackmailed the girl to do escalated in seriousness, culminating in her carving “Slitted” - one of the aliases he used on the “764” group into her breasts using a razor blade on the date of her 15th birthday.
Palmer told the girl: “Make it deep enough so it will scar forever.”
On the same date, Palmer also pressured the girl into recording and sending him videos of herself engaging in a sex act.
Palmer first targeted the girl through an online gaming community, who he used to obtain information and to make an introduction.
Mr Stables described how Palmer began by ”starting small” and asking her to do some graffiti, before asking her to do it in rooms of her house including her bathroom and bedroom.
Palmer asked the girl to daub specific things including: “Despite the setbacks, 764 will never cease to exist” and “Slitted is my one and only true father. I will submit to whatever he needs, I will worship him.”
He also asked her to write “Free Slitted,” referring to the “764” member jailed for his conduct on the group, and from whom Palmer got his alias.
On each occasion, Palmer asked the girl to provide photographic proof of the acts he was pressuring her into carrying out.
Following the graffiti, Palmer then got the girl to burn his username into a bible, and to slap across the face whilst naked from the waist down.
“During the course of these escalating acts, the girl was crying and told him she was crying. He said he did not care, and his threats and demands continued,” said Mr Stables.
“At one point Palmer told her he was going to groom her, which she interpreted as molesting or sexual abuse,” Mr Stables said.
The girl sought to bring Palmer’s reign of terror to an end by reporting what was happening using an online form.
Even after his arrest, Palmer did not continue in his abuse, and he sought to pressure the girl, first through fake online profiles and then his own, to withdraw her complaint.
The girl initially gave into the demands of Palmer, and his associates, and told police she wanted to withdraw her statement, but she ultimately supported his prosecution.
In a statement read to the court on behalf of the girl, she told the court she was scared of Palmer’s behaviour and his threats, which in addition to calling in a bomb threat in her name, included claims he would “swot” her by making false reports to the police, involving her and her family.
The girl said she has struggled with her mental health in the wake of the incident, and is only now beginning to open up.
She revealed how she fears her abuse “content” may be circulating on the internet, and the likely impact this may have on future relationships and job opportunities.
The 764 com group
Mr Stables told the court that the 764 group is a dangerous, sadomasochistic network, operating across many different countries.
“Many of its members appear to be teenage boys and young men,” Mr Stables said.
The 764 network is categorised as a “com” group, defined by the National Crime Agency as online communities where offenders collaborate or compete to cause harm across a broad spectrum of criminality - both on and offline - including cyber, fraud, extremism, serious violence, and child sexual abuse.
Mr Stables told the court that the majority of the victims targeted by the 764 com group were girls, who were chosen and targeted by members because they were “lonely, upset or vulnerable.”
He described how, using platforms including Roblox and Minecraft, “764” members searched online communities for children who “were already vulnerable” and seeking help for issues including “depression, eating disorders and self-harm.”
After gaining the trust of the targeted children by initially appearing supportive, members then seek to “control” the child using grooming, “exploitation or sexploitation” or blackmail.
Mr Stables described how once they have gained control, members then pressure children to do “extreme acts” such as recording themselves carrying out sexual acts, making what members refer to as “blood signs” - involving carving phrases and names linked to the group into body parts - harming or killing pets and in some cases, suicide.
Palmer sought out the “764” group, after researching them online, the court heard.
And after getting into trouble with the police by carrying out some of the demands typical of the group, such as graffiti or criminal damage, Palmer then turned his attention to getting others to make so-called content for the group.
Defendant’s mitigation
Defending, Francis Edusei told the court that Palmer is a “young, immature person,” who had endured a number of difficulties during his childhood, through to his adolescence.
Mr Edusei said that while he did not want to air the precise details of those difficulties in open court, but said it was right to say that his mother suffered from a number of chronic illnesses, leaving Palmer without much parental supervision.
Judge Hampton noted that Palmer had, himself, self-harmed and had also been coerced into carrying out acts of criminal damage by members of the 764 group, before becoming an abuser himself.
Palmer, who appeared emotionless throughout, spoke only to say “thank you” to the judge as he was led out of court to begin his sentence.