Nine women reported Tinder predator before arrest

Nine women separately told police about one of Scotland’s most prolific and predatory romance fraudsters in the years before his arrest, the BBC has found.

Christopher Harkins was finally jailed for 12 years in July 2024 but women who had tried to report him in the previous decade said they felt “dismissed” when they approached Police Scotland.

A BBC Disclosure investigation has revealed that between 2012 and 2019 Police Scotland received nine reports from women who had met Harkins through dating sites including Tinder.

The women said they told police that Harkins had recorded intimate pictures and videos without consent, abused and threatened them and stolen tens of thousands of pounds.

One victim who tried to report Harkins in 2019, after she transferred £3,247 to him for a holiday booking that didn’t exist, said she felt the women were let down.

“The sheer number of people that came forward, I think it’s clear that there were opportunities to investigate,” said the woman, who we are calling Lisa to protect her identity.

DCI Lyndsay Laird led the Police Scotland investigation into Harkins and said it was difficult to say why the frauds weren’t investigated earlier.

“I would say with everything that we’ve put in place since then, I would hope that that experience wouldn’t be replicated now,” she added.