EXCLUSIVE | 

Revealed: Face of man accused of raping child and having over 135,000 abuse images

Jason Harkness (29) is charged with raping and sexually assaulting the child

Today at 14:05

This is the man set to stand trial next year accused of raping a child and having more than 135,000 indecent images of kids.

Pictured for the first time is 29-year-old Jason Harkness of Drum Road, Cookstown, Co Tyrone. He denies all the charges.

He is charged with raping and sexually assaulting the child on dates unknown between 2019 and 2021.

It is further alleged he possessed indecent images of a child and extreme pornography during the same dates.

He first appeared before Dungannon Magistrates Court in November 2022 where police said all charges could be connected.

At a hearing in June a prosecuting lawyer told the court there is a case to answer, which was agreed with by District Judge Michael Ranaghan.

Harkness did not object to the proceedings and declined to call witnesses or give evidence on his own behalf at that stage.

He has since been arraigned at Dungannon Crown Court where he has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

With the committal completed, the defence applied to amend two of Harkness’s bail terms, with one deemed impossible to enforce and the other impacting on his partner’s phone access.

A detective constable set out the circumstances of Harkness’s arrest.

The complainant had made a number of disclosures alleging Harkness had raped her, with the abuse beginning when he encouraged her into a bedroom, placed her face down on a bed, holding her down with one hand while raping her, it is claimed.

Rape allegedly occurred more than once and there were several incidents of oral sex, it was alleged in court.

A medical examination found evidence consistent with abuse.

When the child disclosed Harkness would text her to “come to him for fun”, police seized his phones and when analysed, thousands of indecent images of children were discovered. Officers stopped categorisation at 1,651 images out of a hoard of 135,249.

Objecting to bail variations, the detective pointed out that Harkness recently breached his conditions when he was found with internet-enabled devices.

Although his partner claimed these belonged to her and he had no access to them, officers found no effort to reduce the likelihood of this.

The detective said: “If given access to the internet we feel the defendant will continue to offend and seek further indecent images of children. He seems to be unable to self-regulate his internet usage. Police also believe the prohibition of contact with anyone under 18 is critical.”

The defence argued this should be amended to “inadvertent” contact which Judge Ranaghan agreed with, deeming the condition “a legal impossibility otherwise”.

In addition, the defence said as a result of the bail breach every internet-capable device in his client’s home was removed.

Harkness’s partner was told she could not have a mobile phone in the property and she had to leave her device with a friend before returning home each day.

It was contended this was unfair as she requires her phone for work and, “these conditions are like terms for a Sexual Offences Prevention Order which is for managing persons who are convicted as opposed to those who stand accused… it’s disproportionate to ban my client and his partner from internet usage.

“I fully agree my client should not have uncontrolled access but that could be managed by imposing a condition of ensuring internet history can be examined by police at any time.”

Judge Ranaghan agreed to the amendments, saying that “balance needed to be struck between the presumption of innocence and the protective jurisdiction of the court”.

However, he warned Harkness that any breach would see him remanded in custody until the case concludes.