Christopher Harkins, from Argyll and Bute in Scotland, was jailed for 12 years after he was convicted of serious sexual, violent and financial offences against women he met online

A violent conman who subjected a string of victims to financial offences, sexual violence and physical abuse was reported to the police nine times before his eventual arrest. Christopher Harkins was sentenced to 12 years in prison in July 2024 at the High Court in Kilmarnock,

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.

Christopher Harkins, 38, was reported to police 'nine times before his arrest' - before eventually being jailed last year for a string of serious sexual, violent and financial offences.