LAST UPDATE | 8 Nov

FORMER SINN FÉIN press officer Michael McMonagle has been sentenced to nine months in prison for child sex offences.

McMonagle, 42, was present in the dock at Derry Crown Court this morning for his sentencing.

He was sentenced to 18 months, nine of which were suspended, after pleading guilty to 14 offences.

McMonagle will be placed on the sex offender registry for seven years and barred from working with children, and also barred from using a mobile phone with internet access without the knowledge of a designated risk manager.

McMonagle was first arrested in August 2021.

On 19 August 2021, a search was carried out in McMonagle’s home in Limewood Street in Derry in relation to an investigation into McMonagle contacting children aged under 16, both male and female.

However, the accounts McMonagle was communicating with were police decoys.

The court heard that devices were seized during the search and McMonagle claimed he didn’t remember speaking to these accounts and that he “never knowingly spoke to anyone under 16”.

McMonagle was reinterviewed in July of last year and repeated his assertion that he never knowingly communicated with anyone aged under 16.

In September of this year, McMonagle pleaded guilty to 14 offences of attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

The offences occurred between May 2020 and August 2021.

McMonagle has no previous convictions.

Judge Neil Rafferty said that McMonagle posed under a number of different profiles in engaging with the online accounts, which he thought were underaged children but were in fact police decoys.

He noted that the content of these communications was “sexual throughout” and that he discussed masturbation.

He also sent images of his penis to one of these decoy accounts.

The judge said McMonagle originally admitted to using these sites daily but denied “knowingly speaking” to anyone under the age of 16.

McMonagle added that speaking to people under 16 “was not something he was interested in”.

On 6 July 2023, McMonagle confirmed “it must have been him because it was his mobile device” but he again denied knowing the accounts were under 16.

In September, he admitted to these charges and the judge noted that he has made two attempts on his life since the case came to light.

In a submission to the court, McMonagle apologised for his actions and for the harm he brought to his family and wife, with whom he is now separated.

McMonagle denied having any sexual interest in children and said: “I didn’t connect the words on the screen to real life, I didn’t think it was real, I was detached from reality.

“I am totally ashamed, it’s not me in the real world, I am mortified, it’s like I don’t recognise myself doing that.”

The judge said “there was no harm in this case as the child was fictitious” as a mitigating feature.

“We are dealing with attempts to commit offences,” said the judge, “however the appellant’s intention was that there would be harm.”

But an aggravating factor was the “reasonably extended period” of the communication and the number of the accounts McMonagle was communicating with, as well as the “significant disparity in ages” given that one of the decoys was 12-years-old.

The judge sentenced concurrently on all counts and noted the advance guilty plea and therefore a 25% reduction was appropriate.

McMonagle’s defence team noted that McMonagle never arranged to meet with a child and pointed to the extensive media coverage of the case.

“My client has been the victim of what really is a media witch-hunt,” said his solicitor, who noted that the incident has been raised in both the Stormont Assembly and the Dáil.

The solicitor said the case has been “politicised” and that the level of attention is “because of his past association with a political party”.

“It is somewhat concerning that the PSNI are to hold a press conference after this case, because this case has become so highly politicised, that it almost seeks to place some pressure on the sentencing judge.”

The judge said he has never been influenced in any way by outside court factors.

McMonagle’s solicitor told the court that “in this case, one had the absolutely appalling situation arising in relation to misconceptions” and noted that McMonagle is believed to have been the target of a recent pipe bomb attack on Limewood Street in Derry.

On Tuesday, a pipe bomb exploded after it was thrown through the window of a house in Limewood Street in Derry.

It’s understood that McMonagle’s address was the intended target but that the home of an elderly couple was mistakenly attacked.

“He never communicated with a child, but rather a decoy,” said his solicitor.

“It is because of the perception that has been given in this particular case that potentially caused a very, very serious incident.”

‘Proactive policing operation’

In a statement today, the PSNI said that as the result of “a proactive policing operation led by the PSNI’s Child Internet Protection Team”, it was discovered that McMonagle had interacted with a number of decoy “child” profiles between the age of 12 and 14.

The PSNI said McMonagle “quickly turned the conversation to that of a sexual nature and in August 2021 attempted to get what he believed to be multiple children aged 14 and under to perform sexual acts”.

Detective Chief Superintendent Lindsay Fisher described McMonagle as a “predator who was combing the internet for underage victims”.

“Let this serve as a warning, we are everywhere,” said Fisher.

“If you are attempting to communicate with a child online in a sexual way, you will be caught and you will face the full force of the law when you are.”

Meanwhile, the PSNI said it is ”using this opportunity to deter people from vigilante activity” and that “vigilante ‘paedophile hunters’ are slowing down police investigations and even prevent criminal justice outcomes”.

“The activists are causing people to be wrongly accused in some cases and attacked,” said the PSNI.

“Cases have fallen through or possible criminal outcomes reduced due to ‘evidence’ being gathered by these groups outside of the law, undermining the integrity of any subsequent police investigation and bringing human rights into question.”