PAUL HARKNESS

EX-SOLDIER JAILED FOR ONLINE CHILD SEXUAL COMMUNICATION AND POSSESSION OF INDECENT IMAGES

A former soldier named Paul Harkness has been convicted of attempting to communicate sexually with a 12-year-old girl who was actually an undercover police officer.

The court heard that on November 14, 2022, Harkness engaged in online conversations with the decoy girl, acknowledging her age and requesting explicit images and videos.

He sent explicit pictures of himself and made sexual suggestions, including asking to see her stripping.

Police later raided the army barracks where he worked and uncovered 34 Category A images, 27 Category B, and 39 Category C images, along with a significant number of videos of children in sexualized contexts.

Harkness admitted to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and possessing indecent images of children.

During police interviews, he mostly remained silent.

The prosecution highlighted that the imagery involved the abuse of real children, causing lifelong damage.

The defence argued that no real child was harmed because the girl was a decoy and that Harkness had no previous convictions.

Despite this, Judge Thackray emphasized that although Harkness had the intent to cause harm, no actual harm occurred because it involved a decoy.

Harkness was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, and mandated to register as a sex offender for 10 years.