Nine women reported Tinder conman Christopher Harkins before his 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.

None of the reports resulted in criminal charges at the time and his victims said their original complaints were dismissed as “civil matters”.

Police Scotland told the BBC there were no reports of physical or sexual abuse at that time.

They said they were “mainly around the financial situation” and were each treated in isolation.

The force said its understanding of abuse had progressed since the introduction of new domestic abuse legislation in 2019.

Harkins carried on offending until 2020.

He used dating sites like Tinder to target women, typically singling out successful, career-driven women around Glasgow and the central belt.

On his dating profile, the 38-year-old presented himself as a jet-setting, business-owning, “gym rat”, but in reality he was one of Scotland’s most prolific and predatory romance fraudsters.

Harkins’ scams included pretending to book romantic holidays, asking for money claiming his bank account was temporarily frozen or telling women he was investing their savings for them.

In other cases he pressured women to take out loans of up to £12,000 to give to him and also used their identities to take out loans himself.

One woman was forced into bankruptcy while others spent years paying off debts, suffering mental health issues as a result.

Many of the women who went to the police were too ashamed to tell family and friends of their ordeals.

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 privacy.

“There must have been a way that he could have been stopped before he was.”

Dr Jenn Glinski, from Scottish Women’s Aid, said early reports of financial abuse give authorities a chance to intervene before behaviour escalates to physical or sexual abuse.

When Lisa initially went to a police station to ask for help, she said she was told: “There’s not really much we can do if your boyfriend doesn’t want to take you on holiday”.

“It was very dismissive,” she said.

“They seemed to be a little bit unsure of how you would deal with that or how you would categorise that.

“I was asked whether or not I had slept with him at that point, which I didn’t feel was relevant. I remember feeling really frustrated.”

Determined to expose Harkins, Lisa emailed journalist Catriona Stewart, who published an article in Glasgow’s Evening Times newspaper.

It quickly became apparent that Lisa was not the only woman Harkins had targeted.

“Within a few hours of the article going live I had five women who had been in touch with Christopher Harkins phone me,” Ms Stewart said.

“It very quickly became apparent to me that this man had been operating for at least a decade, that his alleged crimes were far more than financial. And that this was an individual who was potentially very dangerous.”

After the newspaper article was published, police revisited the historical reports.

Harkins was charged and stood trial at the High Court in Paisley in May 2024.

One woman, whom we are calling Jane for legal reasons, met Harkins online in late 2018 before progressing into a relationship with him.

He stole from her and recorded an intimate video without consent before suggesting he would send it to her parents.

Giving evidence, Jane also described an incident when Harkins raped her.

“He was trying to have sex with me while I was asleep,” Jane said.

“The only memory I have was discomfort. I remember feeling in pain. I remember feeling uncomfortable. I remember feeling confused. I tried to push him away.

“I remember this was a time where he grabbed me by the neck.”

After a two-week trial, Harkins was convicted of 19 offences including rape, assault, recording an intimate video without consent, threatening and abusive behaviour and four other sexual offences.

He also admitted defrauding nine women, including Lisa and Jane, out of more than £214,000.

The BBC is aware of alleged frauds totalling a further £53,000 that have not been prosecuted and a further nine alleged victims who were not involved in the trial.

DCI Lyndsay Laird led the Police Scotland investigation into Harkins.

She said it was difficult to say why they weren’t investigated earlier.

“Each one was reported at different stages, so they weren’t all reported together, they were reported in different divisions throughout Police Scotland,” she said.

She added: “There was no reports of physical or sexual abuse ever made to the police at that time.

“It was mainly around the financial situation, which when they’re treated in isolation, they have been taken as civil investigations.

“I think it’s safe to say policing has evolved massively since the time those initial reports have come in.”

Asked if Police Scotland would apologise to the victims who tried to report Harkins in the years before he was arrested, DCI Laird said: “I think that’s a very difficult question to answer.

“I think they’ve got a successful court result now, based on the investigation that was conducted.

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

Harkins was first arrested and appeared in court in January 2020.

Despite his legal situation he continued his scams and found a new target.

We are calling her Naomi to protect her identity.

Naomi was seeing Harkins in 2020 while he was being investigated by police.

She alleges he stole £550 from her and later pressured her to withdraw £10,000 that he had transferred into her bank account.

She was unaware of the allegations against him.

“[I had] no idea”, she said.

“If I did I wouldn’t have been involved. It wouldn’t have happened.”

After spending a night with Harkins, Naomi said he sent her a still image from a video he’d taken of her while they were intimate, leaving her feeling “absolutely violated”.

In the year up to June 2024, almost £95m was lost to romance fraud in the UK with the average loss per person being £10,774, according to the national fraud intelligence bureau.

In July last year Harkins was sentenced to 12 years in prison and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Lisa, whose initial media interview sparked the police investigation that led to Harkins being jailed, said she felt vindicated for persevering.

She got her money back from Harkins months later, but most women did not.

Lisa said: “I was just so relieved for everybody that had stood up and told their story that there had been a positive outcome.

“I just think they’re incredibly brave and I’m so glad that they did do it. The result is exactly what should’ve happened years ago.

“I’ve felt for the last five years that I haven’t been able to move on. It’s a story I’m now proud to tell, rather than ashamed to tell.”

If you have any information about this story please email disclosure@bbc.co.uk to speak to a journalist.

Additional reporting by Katie McEvinney