A paedophile who distributed indecent images of children and possessed extreme animal pornography has been jailed for two years and eight months.

Adrian Harkin, 34, was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday (January 21) after admitting eight offences. He was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely and made subject of a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Harkin, formerly of Bath Street, Nottingham, was arrested in May 2023 after a woman contacted police to report that Harkin had sent her indecent images of children via a dating app. The court heard the images were unsolicited and that Harkin told the woman he had a sexual interest in both children and animals.

Following his arrest, numerous devices were seized from Harkin's possession. A specialist officer on Nottinghamshire Police's Internet Child Exploitation Team reviewed the devices, revealing the full extent of Harkin's offending. The investigation uncovered numerous chats on Harkin’s phone where he distributed indecent images of children and discussed the graphic sexual abuse of children.

Harkin's phone contained over nine hours of indecent videos showing girls as young as four being horrifically abused. Over 20 different chats were identified where Harkin was distributing images and discussing the abuse of children. He also wrote that he was looking for animals to abuse.

Harkin pleaded guilty to a string of offences including: Making indecent images of children, namely 66 category A images and 143 category A videos; Making indecent images of children, namely 52 category B images and 3 category B videos; Making indecent images of children, namely 103 category C images; Possessing prohibited images of children (53 images); Possessing extreme pornographic images portraying a sexual act with an animal, namely 109 images which were grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character; Distributing indecent images of children, namely 33 category A videos of children; Distributing indecent images of children, namely 5 category B images of children; and Distributing indecent images of children, namely 13 category C images of children.

Detective Constable Tom Nuttall, who led the investigation, said: "Harkin has deep-rooted sexual perversions and I am pleased he is behind bars. The material he possessed and shared can only be described as depraved – depicting the most serious sexual offences committed by adults against children and animals. People who download and view this kind of material may not believe they are doing any harm, but in reality they are helping to fuel a depraved cycle of abuse that causes immense physical and emotional harm. That's why we dedicate so many resources to ensuring the people who are consuming this material are caught and safeguarding measures swiftly implemented."