Police officer accused of child porn offences found stabbed to death in 'vigilante attack'
Former police officer Geoffrey Harries was due to appear on child porn charges before he was stabbed to death
A former police officer facing child porn charges has been stabbed to death in a suspected vigilante attack.
Geoffrey Harries, 49, died after apparently challenging someone tampering with his car, parked outside his home.
Locals in the South Wales village of Trimsaran, near Llanelli, said there had been hostility towards Mr Harries since he and his wife Elizabeth moved there earlier this year.
They had moved out of their old home in Pembrey, three miles away, amid similar public outrage after Harries was accused of possessing more than 2,000 indecent images on his computer.
The veteran PC had already resigned from Dyfed Powys police.
Harries, who was due in Cardiff Crown Court next week, was attacked in the early hours of Sunday. He was stabbed several times in the chest and died later in hospital.
An elderly widow living nearby said: 'I know people believed that he had had problems where he was living before because of the publicity connected with his case.
'The gossip is that he was forced out of Pembrey and moved here. It is hard to believe that what has now happened to him isn't connected with that.
'This has come as a terrible shock to the village. A lot of people think he has been targeted, particularly because he was a former policeman.'
Fellow resident Christine Davies confirmed villagers had been uneasy about Mr Harries being in Trimsaran.
She said: 'There was a public meeting due to take place some time this week down at the new leisure centre and I know there was talk of a petition as well.
Police taped off the area outside Harries' home in a quiet Welsh village
'I was talking to people when I took the bus today and some were saying "Good riddance" if he had really done what he was accused of doing.'
Adrian Jones, a local cockle-picker, said: 'There is a feeling in the village that he only got as good as he deserved.
'I have got four children myself but I wouldn't have said anything like that. Anything he has done wrong should be for the courts to decide.'
Another neighbour said: 'It is shocking. We don't know if the murder had anything to do with the forthcoming court case but it was the talk of the village.
'No one likes having an alleged paedophile living in your street.'
Harries's home in the modern estate of Dythel Park was taped off yesterday as police forensic experts examined the scene. Detectives were last night questioning a 30-year-old man on suspicion of murder.
They are investigating whether their former colleague was targeted because of the charges he was facing.
The former PC was charged after an investigation found a total of 2,082 pornographic images of children on his computer.
A court heard that nine of them were classed as level five category - the most serious on the scale - and 52 as level four.
Harries had been charged with 15 offences of making indecent images of children between May 2005 and December last year and one of possessing indecent images.
At an initial court hearing he was released on bail to await the full trial.
It is understood that the conditions of his bail were later changed so he could move away from his old home in Pembrey.
