North Yorkshire Activity Centre Manager Guilty Of Child Porn Crimes

A North Yorkshire children's outdoor activity centre manager who joined a nudist website which really encouraged child abuse has been jailed for 4 years.

Jonathan Garner-Harris, a deputy director of the Marrick Priory centre in Marrick, near Richmond, was the ninth member of an international paedophile network to be dealt with by the courts.

The 37-year-old was investigated by Durham Police and pleaded guilty at Durham Crown Court to 20 offences.
His case was transferred to Portsmouth Crown Court where he was sentenced by Judge Roger Hetherington who heard a six-week trial involving other members of the ring which abused two young children.

Garner-Harris was jailed for four years concurrent for three charges of inciting a child sex offence and four months concurrent for each of 17 counts relating to indecent photos of children.

Ringleader Robert Hathaway, 37, of Tyseley Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire, was previously sentenced to an indeterminate sentence of 12 years along with his partner Melissa Noon, 30, who was jailed for four years. The trial heard that the ring used a nudist website as a cover for their perversions.

The court was told that Garner-Harris, who appeared by video-link, was involved in internet chat with Hathaway during which he encouraged the Portsmouth-based offender to abuse the two young children.

Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, told the court that Garner-Harris pretended to be a woman and invented a daughter, aged between 12 and 14, in order to be accepted by other members of the nudist website who were based in the UK, Australia and America.