Marcus Harris, 24, has been sentenced to six years in prison and placed on the sex offender register for life following his conviction for attempting to arrange child sex offences via Snapchat. Harris sent disturbing messages, videos, and pictures to a woman he believed to be the mother of two young children; in fact, she was an undercover police officer.
Over the course of a month, the officer, posing as ‘Ellie’, received communications from Harris involving references to children’s underwear and the rape of a child as well as a video of Harris masturbating. He pleaded guilty to attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence, specifically the rape of a child under 13, and to sending an image of his genitals.
Harris also received a sexual harm prevention order barring him from working with children for life. During his sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Drew described his offences as “extremely serious,” noting Harris became fixated on contacting the woman with the intention of meeting her children for sexual purposes, which the court regarded with utmost concern due to the children’s ages.
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The communication began on January 13 when Harris added the undercover officer on Snapchat, using the username ‘dirtylad21.’ He expressed a sexual interest in children, even indicating an interest in newborns or younger with an emoji. When informed of the children, Harris suggested visiting and made remarks alluding to rape.
Despite denying a sexual interest in children, Harris’s barrister acknowledged mental health issues and described him as immature with deficits in consequential thinking. She noted that the volume of messages over the month was less than that typically seen in similar cases and that Harris appeared ashamed, never once lifting his head during the hearing and wiping tears away.
Harris is now serving his sentence at HMP Birmingham and will remain subject to monitoring as part of his lifelong registration on the sex offender list.