Hadrian Hartley

A convicted paedophile from Rotherham has been jailed for two years and eight months after he was caught breaching a sexual harm prevention order by downloading a VPN and accessing indecent images of children.

Hadrian Hartley, aged 52, was visited by police at his bail hostel accommodation in Rotherham on 12 January 2026, just weeks after his release from a 12-month prison sentence for a previous breach. Officers discovered a mobile phone protected by a virtual private network (VPN), which Hartley admitted he had installed. Prosecutor Neil Coxon told Sheffield Crown Court that the defendant confirmed the VPN “allowed him to access parts of the internet that a normal browser would not.”

A forensic examination of the device revealed category A videos depicting a girl believed to be around 14 years old, along with several category B and C indecent images. Hartley’s barrister, Stephen Littlewood, said his client was “seeking to get help” for his issues but had “never had the opportunity of help” while previously in custody.

Judge Graham Reeds KC dismissed the defendant’s attempts to blame a lack of support from probation and the prison system, stating: “Given your record of repeated offending it’s a worrying feature that you’re still using pornography and are still sexually attracted to under-age girls. The fact that you blame lack of support from probation and the prison system worries me also. You don’t seem to take personal responsibility for what you have done.”

The court heard that Hartley had 17 previous convictions for 33 offences, including indecent assault and attempting to incite a child to commit sexual offences. He had already breached sexual harm prevention orders five times and had been jailed on three separate occasions over the previous three years. His latest offences of making indecent images of children and breaching a sexual harm prevention order were committed while he was subject to post-sentence supervision.

Hartley, formerly of Doncaster Road, Rotherham, admitted the charges and was sentenced in June 2026 at Sheffield Crown Court to a custodial term of two years and eight months.