A west Belfast man has appeared in court accused of sending malicious emails to Stormont’s Education Minister and the former principal of Lisneal College.
John Hendron stood in the dock at Belfast Magistrates Court this morning as he was charged with harassing DUP MLA Paul Givan and the then head of the Londonderry school, Michael Allen.
The 62-year-old defendant, from Cullingtree Fold on the Falls Road, is alleged to have “pursued a course of conduct which amounted to harassment” which he “knew or ought to have known” was in breach of the Protection from Harassment (Northern Ireland) Order.
No details of the case were revealed in court.
Former Lisneal College principal Michael Allen
However, Mr Hendron’s solicitor told the judge his client accepts his guilt on two separate counts.
They relate to correspondence sent between February 12 and 15 this year when the college was at the centre of a political row over £710,000 funding for a football pitch awarded by the Education Authority in the absence of an application being made.
The allocation of the money came after a meeting between Mr Allen, who is now an education adviser for the Strule Shared Education Campus in Omagh, and DUP ministers including Mr Givan.
The case was adjourned to April 4.