AMMANFORD EX-COP RICHARD WAYNE HARRIS AVOIDS JAIL AFTER CHILD PORNOGRAPHY DISCOVERY

In a case that has shocked the community of Ammanford, Richard Wayne Harris, a 63-year-old former police inspector, was found to have stored nearly 2,000 indecent images of children on his personal computer. Despite the gravity of his actions, Harris was spared imprisonment after pleading guilty to the charges, though he maintained that merely viewing the images did not equate to active participation in child abuse.

Harris, who resided at 60 Brynmawr Avenue in Ammanford, was initially brought before magistrates in December of 2010. During that hearing, prosecutor Dennis Davies detailed the disturbing nature of the images, which ranged from Category One to Category Five, with the latter representing the most extreme and depraved content. Harris faced 17 counts of possessing child pornography at that time.

The case took a further turn when, in January of the following year, police re-arrested Harris after executing a search warrant on his property. During this operation, officers seized a laptop computer that had not been previously examined. Subsequent investigations uncovered an additional 60 images stored on CDs and a hard drive, significantly increasing the scope of Harris's possession.

Huw Rees, representing Harris in mitigation, described the former officer as “a broken man,” emphasizing the profound impact his actions had on his mental health. Rees revealed that Harris was so overwhelmed by remorse and despair that he had attempted to take his own life at a hotel in Swindon.

In sentencing, Judge Keith Thomas imposed a three-year community order on Harris. The judge was clear in his assessment, stating that Harris’s claim of not actively contributing to the child exploitation industry was “facile” and insufficient to mitigate the seriousness of his offenses. The case has left many in Ammanford contemplating the dark secrets that can lurk behind seemingly ordinary lives, especially those with a background in law enforcement.