0
A woman who matched with predator Christopher Harkins on the dating app Tinder says she was the target of death threats and abuse that destroyed her mental health for years. All this after spending just 20 minutes in your company.
Speaking for the first time about the meeting she had with the notorious scammer and rapist in 2018, Nadia said that the harassment began after she ended the meeting early because she noticed “warning signs”.
The sports massage therapist is among around six women who have recounted their harrowing, and often bizarre, experiences with one of Scotland’s most prolific romance scammers in the BBC’s new podcast Disclosure: Matched with a Predator (Matching with a Predator, in free translation).
The BBC investigation revealed that 11 women attempted to report Harkins to Police Scotland as early as 2012.
Despite accusations of physical attacks, fraud, threats and abuse, Harkins was only investigated by the police at the end of 2019.
Police Scotland said the previous reports were “mainly related to financial issues” and were handled in isolation — something the force says it “hopes will not be repeated today.”
Harkins spent almost a decade committing crimes against women he met online in Scotland and London, before being arrested in 2024.
Nadia believes he should have been stopped much sooner.
She is among the victims calling on Police Scotland to apologize to the women who tried to report him
Nadia, now 34, and Harkins, 38, matched on Tinder seven years ago.
After a few weeks of exchanging messages, they decided to go out to dinner in Glasgow, a city in Scotland.
For Nadia, the first warning sign came when she arrived to collect him from his flat in Cumbernauld.
He opened the door wearing sweatpants and a tank top, saying he was too tired to leave. He suggested they stay at home and order food via app.
“That’s when the situation started to get bizarre,” said Nadia.
“I walked in. The place was empty. No furniture. The room had nothing but a TV propped up on some boxes.”
Harkins offered to mix Nadia a shot of vodka. When she turned down alcohol and poured herself a Diet Coke, she says the mood changed.
“It was as if he had some kind of internal outbreak,” he said.
“He looked at me like, ‘Who do you think you are? Why are you helping yourself?'”
“I got a little nervous and filled the glass to the brim. When I turned around, I ended up spilling the Coca-Cola.”
“The look on his face was insane. He said something like, ‘You’re so clumsy, you don’t respect my house. You’re a clown.'”
“I remember thinking, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ It was laminate flooring.”
“I said, ‘Look, I’m leaving.’ He pointed to the door and started swearing.”
Nadia said: “I was terrified. I thought he was going to follow me. I got in the car, locked the doors and that was it.”
“I thought it would all end there, but it only got worse. It’s hard to believe that my life was so affected by just a 20-minute interaction with that man.”
The rejection appears to have been a trigger for Harkins, who began bombarding Nadia with calls and messages as soon as she left.
The first message read: “How does someone like you have the audacity to leave a date with me?”
As the hours passed, the situation worsened. According to Nadia, Harkins threatened to “burn down” her house with gasoline, kill her and attack her father.
He also repeatedly insulted her, attacking her appearance.
The impact on Nadia’s self-esteem was devastating, something she had been trying to rebuild after a difficult period in her life.
“I received messages saying I was a fat cow,” he said.
“That he was a ‘catfish’ (hoax), that he looked like a pig, that he wore too much makeup. This continued throughout the night. I cried so much that I had a headache. At six in the morning, he was still sending me insults.”
“I remember looking in the mirror and feeling ashamed of myself.”
“He knew I had lost weight and was going to the gym. When I thought I was at my best, he just destroyed everything.”
The day after the meeting, Nadia reported the threats and abuse to Police Scotland. She also presented a recording of a call made by Harkins.
In it, you can hear him saying that he would go to Nadia’s father’s house, drag him out and “beat up” him.
“They said they couldn’t do anything for me,” said Nadia. “They said there was no direct threat and that, if and when he did something, I should call him back.”
“No one took my statement. They didn’t want to help me. I screamed, desperate: ‘I can’t go through this, you don’t know what he’s capable of, he’s threatening me.'”
Nadia said: “If they had done something back then, a lot could have been avoided for the girls who came after me.”
Harkins continued the harassment long after the encounter. Nadia blocked his number, but more than a year later he was still harassing her, contacting people she knew on social media.
She said: “The mental state he left me in… If I hadn’t had my daughter, I would have ended my life,” she said.
Harkins is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence after being convicted of 19 crimes against 10 women, including physical and sexual violence.
He was initially accused of threatening and abusive behavior towards Nadia and making threats to her family.
As part of a plea deal, the prosecution accepted his plea of not guilty in that case, and Harkins pleaded guilty to stealing more than £214,000 from women through travel scams, fake investment schemes and misusing their identities to take out bank loans.
What finally prompted Police Scotland to open an investigation was one of the victims’ appeal to the press in a desperate attempt to expose Harkins and protect other women.
She had also been ignored by the police after being scammed by him in a travel scam worth £3,247 (approximately R$23,000).
Credit,Police Scotland
Her story was published in October 2019.
The extent of Harkins’ crimes soon became apparent, and police opened a formal investigation.
Nadia and other women who had made previous complaints were contacted again and, this time, invited to give a statement.
Harkins was tried in 2024.
Upon reading the testimony of a woman who had been raped by Harkins, Nadia had a devastating realization: the rape occurred two months after her encounter with him.
“That girl could have been totally saved,” he said.
“He could have been arrested, and she would never have had contact with him. Horrible. That’s all I can say about it. It’s disgusting.”
The BBC investigation identified new suspicions of fraud committed by Harkins, worth almost £70,000 (around R$480,000).
And it was found that he had claimed at least 30 victims.
The report sent a letter to Harkins in prison seeking comment on the allegations, but he did not respond.
Chief Inspector Lyndsay Laird, who is responsible for Police Scotland’s investigation into the case, said it was difficult to explain why previous reports were not investigated.
“Each was registered at different times, so they did not arrive together, they were presented in different divisions of Police Scotland,” he said.
“At the time, there were no reports of physical or sexual abuse made to police. The reports were primarily related to financial matters and, when handled in isolation, ended up being considered civil investigations.”
“I think we can safely say that policing has evolved a lot since these first reports were received.”
Favorable judicial outcome
Several women told the BBC they reported physical assaults and sexual misconduct years before police opened the investigation.
Asked whether Police Scotland would apologize to victims who tried to report Harkins, Chief Inspector Lyndsay Laird responded: “I think that’s a very difficult question to answer. I think there is now a successful judicial outcome, based on the investigation that was conducted.”
Laird concluded: “With all the measures we have implemented since then, I hope this experience is not repeated today.”
In response to these comments, Nadia said: “I know they really tried hard when they decided to do something about it, but they should have done something sooner.”
“He had been doing this for years. It could have been prevented. They should have apologized. They could have stopped him.”
Harkins was arrested last year, nearly five years after his first arrest. He was convicted based on the testimonies of ten women.
Nadia received a call informing her of the outcome of the trial. “Those women achieved much more than anyone imagines,” he said.
“Now, all the people who could cross his path in the future won’t have to anymore. What they did was incredible, it was huge.”
Mother of two daughters, Nadia managed to rebuild her life and self-confidence, but the experience left its mark.
“Today I feel very well,” he said. “I’m a totally different person, much more confident. I’m not afraid to speak my mind and I’ll never ignore a warning sign again.”
In Brazil, women who are victims of abuse or harassment can call the Women’s Assistance Center on 180, available 24 hours a day, including on weekends and holidays. In case of emergency, you can ask for help from the Military Police (190), the Civil Police (197) or Hotline (181).
