A trans-identified pedophile is back behind bars after breaching a sexual harm prevention order for the second time.
Joshua Harvey, of Caerphilly, Wales, was initially imprisoned in 2018 on five counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. Harvey had sent lewd media of himself to a social media account he believed to belong to a 13 year old girl, but was in fact a decoy established by anti-predator vigilante group Guardians of the North.
According to the group, Harvey had asked the ‘girl’ for sex, and sent indecent photos and videos of himself. Shortly after, Guardians of the North alerted local police and turned over the evidence of Harvey’s acts. He was ultimately sentenced to 3 years and 8 months, but was released on condition in October of 2019.
Within two weeks of his release, Harvey had breached his conditions of not engaging with minors on two separate occasions. In the first incidents, Harvey made two teen girls working at a restaurant “uncomfortable.” He would begin by pestering one of the young workers, throwing food at her when she tried to ignore him. The girl would report Harvey telling her he had a “surprise” for her, and attempting to enter the employees-only area around the counter.
Three days later, Harvey had returned and found another minor girl working. He asked her if she was old enough to have sex, and invited her out on a date. He found out the girl’s name and phone number, and called her no less than 15 times.
On a separate occasion, Harvey had approached two young boys at a Remembrance Day event. A police officer witnessed the interaction and thought Harvey looked “over-familiar” with the youth. The officer was then approached by a member of the public, who stated Harvey had been loudly “bragging about being a pedophile.”
Harvey was sentenced to two years in prison for the 2019 breaches. While it is unclear when Harvey was released, by June of 2022 he was out of prison and once again violating the order stemming from his 2018 charges.
According to the South Wales Argus, Harvey, 27, has now been sentenced to 24 weeks in prison after police found unregistered electronic devices at him home. He pleaded guilty at Newport Magistrates’ Court today.
News reports related to the 2018 incident referred to Harvey as a man, but, by his next set of charges stemming from the 2019 breaches, he began being referred to by media as a “woman.”
A Wales Online article about Harvey’s case after approaching the minors in 2019 was headlined “Woman who ‘bragged about being a pedophile’ approached boys at Remembrance event,” and utilized feminine pronouns for Harvey.
At the time of the Wales Online report, Harvey had been confirmed as being housed in a men’s prison, but his placement for the latest breach will largely be dependent on whether or not he has obtained a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).
Individuals can apply for a GRC for little as £5 and will be issued once a person has met certain requirements, one of which is having lived as a ‘preferred gender‘ for two years, something Harvey appears to have done.
Speaking to Reduxx on another case of a recently-transitioned pedophile, Dr. Kate Coleman, Director of Keep Prisons Single Sex, said GRCs will usually determine placement.
“Whilst under 1% non-GRC holders are in the female [prison] estate, 90% of those with a GRC are in women’s prisons. These include those convicted of the most serious violent and sexual offences and those with intact male genitalia,” Dr. Coleman noted, continuing: “A GRC isn’t a cast iron guarantee of getting into a women’s prison, but it increases your chances by an order of magnitude.”
Keep Prisons Single Sex is a campaign group focused on advocating for the single-sex rights of vulnerable female inmates. It currently has branches in the United Kingdom and United States.
“[GRCs] have successfully been obtained by prisoners serving sentences for the most serious violent and sexual offenses against women and children,” Dr. Coleman said, “We know that offending history and risk are not taken into consideration by the Gender Recognition Panel when making the decision to grant a gender recognition certificate.”
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