“I absolutely love love,” declares Shannon. “I’m a hopeless romantic.” Six years ago, the 40-year-old had no idea that this streak would lead her into an appallingly traumatic experience. After ending a relationship in 2019, she was searching for a new partner and joined the dating app Tinder.
Speaking to The Sunday Express from her home in Glasgow, Shannon remembers: “I was ready for someone to sweep me off my feet.” She matched with Christopher Harkins, a charismatic and seemingly wealthy, jet-setting foreign exchange trader from Helensburgh.
An independent, intelligent and successful managing director of a recruitment firm, Shannon started dating him, dreaming of a happy ever after: “I felt a little bit Disney. I was hoping this would be a love story.” Sadly it proved to be far from a fairytale – with alarming speed, it turned into a complete nightmare.
Soon after meeting, Harkins suggested they go on an extravagant holiday together to the Greek island Mykonos. He persuaded Shannon to loan him £3,247 so he could book their trip of a lifetime, promising to pay her back the next day.
She woke the following morning feeling uneasy about having transferred such a large amount of money, but when she tried to phone him, the line was dead. “I felt so sick,” she recalls. Shannon called the hotel Harkins claimed to have booked, but there was no record of a reservation.
After discovering this she realised she had been defrauded by a man who became known as “The Tinder Predator.” She went to the police but two male officers told her it was a domestic matter and there was nothing they could do. Harkins’s despicable behaviour went unchecked for more than a decade, despite nine separate women reporting him to the police between 2012 and 2019.
Such police inaction meant the conman was able repeatedly to get away with scamming women, thinking he was untouchable, which emboldened him to target more victims. At the point when Shannon realised she would not get her money back, she resolved to go to the press, saying: “My only option was to take this public.”
Her message to Harkins was, “I’m going to have every woman in Glasgow know who you are. I wanted other women not to fall for this.” Shannon’s story being published encouraged other victims to come forward. Catriona Stewart, the journalist who wrote the report, was immediately inundated with women recounting similar tales of being exploited by Harkins.
Backed into a corner, the arch-manipulator sent his victims vile, intimidating messages and threatened to shame them by posting “revenge porn” videos on the internet. He said he would burn down Shannon’s house with her and her dog inside it. But his victims would not be cowed and soon more than 20 women in both Scotland and England came forward.
It became clear that for more than a decade, Harkins, now 38, had charmed numerous women to fall for him before taking their money and inflicting physical and sexual abuse. One of his victims went bankrupt and another had mental health issues after being compelled to repay her debts over several years. Shannon’s story is one of five featured in Catching the Tinder Predator, a new Prime Video documentary, which can be streamed from this Sunday.
“The Tinder Predator” was finally brought to justice and in 2023 he was jailed for 15 months in London after being convicted on five counts of fraud. Harkins was found guilty of another 19 offences, including rape, assault, threatening and abusive behaviour and four other sexual offences in Paisley last year. The court heard he raped one victim while she was asleep and he previously admitted defrauding nine women out of more than £214,000.
He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, put on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and banned from contacting his victims. Shannon says this devastating experience has left her wary of men: “I’m still single. It’s difficult because I don’t ever want to fall victim to these things again. I’m hyper-vigilant. It’s almost like I’m constantly searching for all these red flags.”
But she adds: “I’m very happy. Romance is not something that I’m pining for. It will happen when it happens. But I’m a very independent, single, happy woman. Six years ago I was in a place of shame and embarrassment, but now I feel super proud, not just of myself, but of all the women who came forward. Harkins is now in prison, where he belongs and where he will be for a long time.”
She is hopeful that her bravery in going public will encourage other abused women to call out their tormentors. “The biggest thing is, don’t be afraid to speak up. If one person doesn’t listen, go to the next person. That’s ultimately what exposed Harkins.”
*Catching the Tinder Predator can be watched on Prime Video from Sunday.