Corby paedophile Kevin Harvey groomed young victim on Snapchat, leaving her scared to tell anyone
A Corby man who groomed his victim on social media has avoided jail after telling a court he had lost his marriage and his home since his offending was uncovered.
Kevin Harvey appeared before Northampton Crown Court on Tuesday (November 12) to hear how his teenage victim’s life had been ripped apart by his offending.
Prosecuting, Micaila Williams told the court how Harvey had previously known the local girl and had begun messaging her on Snapchat in 2022.
His messages became increasingly sickening and he spoke to her about intimacy in his own relationship and then asked her to send images of herself in her underwear. Eventually he was sending her messages every few minutes until she said she ‘couldn’t get a break.’
The girl – who cannot be identified as she is a victim of a sexual offence – tried everything she could to get him to stop, ignoring his messages then laughing them off.
When arrested he told officers he couldn’t remember sending the messages.
But separately, after interrogating the contents of his phone, police also found 47 category A images of child sex abuse downloaded – and subsequently deleted – between 2015 and 2021.
They also found 31 category B and 2 category C images.
Harvey, a guitarist who is well-known around Corby’s music scene, admitted one count of engaging in sexual communication with a child during 2022, and three counts of making indecent images between 2015 and 2021.
In a heart-breaking victim impact statement read to the court by Miss Williams, the girl said she wanted the court to fully understand the repercussions of Harvey’s offending.
She said: “The last two years have been extremely traumatic for me.
"I was exposed to things I should never have been exposed to.”
She said at first the messages were just over friendly, but Harvey’s behaviour escalated.
"His messages became increasingly vulgar and it started to worry me and I got scared,” she said.
"It was clear he was trying to groom me for sex.”
She said that she was forced to lie to friends about why she was not her usual self. They eventually told her to tell her parents.
"I didn’t want to tell anyone because I was scared for fear of the consequences,” she said.
The teen eventually felt she had to send him intimate videos and pictures of herself.
After every message he would send some form of apology of explanation, ‘as a way to justify his behaviour,’ the girl told the court.
She has been left seeking therapy and has had to endure the shocking fallout of Harvey’s behaviour, much of which cannot be reported to protect her identity.
She said that the waiting time of two years for her case to come to court has had a devastating effect on her quality of life.
In mitigation, the court was told that the 36-year-old, formerly of Creswell Walk and now of no fixed abode, was of previous good character. He had co-operated with police at the first opportunity, and had pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court.
But the court was also told that Harvey still believed he did not have a sexual interest in children.
His advocate Will Forber-Heyward said his client was ‘utterly disgusted’ by what he had done.
"Divorce proceedings are now under way and he is living in his car,” he said.
"He wants to move on with his life and be a better person. He understands the damage he has done.”
Recorder Shamim Qureshi said that he had read a description of the images given in Harvey’s police interview and that he found it ‘sickening’. He said that he had considered Harvey’s remorse, his guilty pleas and the length of time it had taken for the case to get to court when deciding on his sentence. He gave him a 12 month prison term suspended for two years.
He will also have to complete 30 rehabilitation requirement days and a 40-day accredited sex offender programme.
He will also be the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for ten years,