I was looking for true love... until I fell for Tinder Predator

‘I was hoping this would be a Disney love story’

- By James Rampton

“I ABSOLUTELY love love,” declares Shannon. “I’m a hopeless romantic.”

Six years ago, the 40-year-old had no idea it would lead her into an appallingly traumatic experience. After ending a relationship in 2019, she was searching for a new partner and joined the dating app Tinder.

Speaking to the Sunday Express from her home in Glasgow, Shannon remembers: “I was ready for someone to sweep me off my feet.”

She matched with Christopher Harkins, a charismatic and seemingly wealthy, jet-setting foreign exchange trader from Helensburgh, around 20 miles northwest of Glasgow.

Shannon, an independent, successful managing director of a recruitment firm, started dating him, dreaming of a happy ever after. “It felt a little bit Disney. I was hoping this would be a love story,” she says. Sadly, it proved to be far from a fairytale — with alarming speed, it turned into a nightmare.

Soon after meeting, Harkins suggested they go on an extravagant holiday to Mykonos.

He persuaded Shannon to loan him £3,247 so he could book their trip of a lifetime to the Greek island, promising to pay her back the next day.

She woke the following morning feeling uneasy about having transferred such a large amount and when she tried to phone him, the line was dead. “I felt so sick,” she recalls.