TIPTON AND WEST BROMWICH PAEDOPHILE JACK HARRIS ESCAPES JAIL AFTER HORRIFIC CHILD SEX ABUSE IMAGE HAUL

In a disturbing case that has shocked the communities of Tipton and West Bromwich, Jack Harris, a 28-year-old known resident of Henn Drive in Tipton, has been found in possession of an appalling collection of over 1,500 child sex abuse images. Despite the severity of his crimes, Harris was able to avoid immediate imprisonment during his court hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court, where he faced charges related to the possession and distribution of indecent images of children.

Harris, who is currently unemployed, was discovered to have accessed these vile images through accounts he created with Mega Limited, a cloud storage service based in Auckland, New Zealand. The company, which specializes in file hosting and cloud computing, became aware that some of its users were utilizing its services for illicit purposes, prompting an internal audit conducted between September and October 2019. During this investigation, authorities identified two separate accounts linked to Harris, each associated with different email addresses.

Following this discovery, a team from the National Crime Agency (NCA) analyzed the data and traced the accounts back to Harris’s residence in Tipton. In November 2020, officers from the NCA traveled to the West Midlands to execute search warrants. They initially searched Harris’s home in Tipton before tracking him to a new address on Devereux Road in West Bromwich. Harris was subsequently arrested at this location. During the arrest, he cooperated by providing passwords for his Samsung mobile phone, iPad, and Samsung laptop. Authorities also seized several portable storage devices believed to contain further illicit material.

The investigation uncovered a horrifying collection of more than 1,500 indecent images depicting children as young as five being abused. During police interviews, Harris admitted to owning the Mega Limited accounts but attempted to shift blame onto his ex-boyfriend, claiming that the latter had accessed the images from December 2018 until August 2020. Harris insisted that his ex-partner had never downloaded any indecent material or used his devices, despite the evidence linking him to the accounts.

Prosecutor David Jackson explained that the NCA’s inquiries revealed that Harris’s ex-boyfriend denied any involvement in downloading or viewing the illicit images, asserting he had never used Harris’s devices for such purposes. Nevertheless, Harris’s own statements and the digital evidence placed him at the center of the disturbing collection.

Harris, who had no prior criminal record or cautions, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent photographs of children and one count of creating an extreme pornographic image. During sentencing, Recorder Stephens described the extreme image as ‘repellant’ but chose not to specify further details. The court sentenced Harris to a 12-month prison term, suspended for two years. Additionally, he was ordered to participate in a 40-day rehabilitation activity, adhere to a six-month curfew, and pay £500 in court costs. Harris is also required to remain on the sex offenders register for ten years and is subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order, reflecting the seriousness of his offenses and the ongoing risk to the community.