A sign urging paedophile Michael McMonagle to move out of his home was posted on his front door this week after a pipe-bomb attack in the street.
McMonagle, a former press officer with Sinn Féin, was jailed for nine months on Friday for a series of child sex offences.
The 43-year-old’s case sparked a major political scandal after it was revealed two ex-colleagues in Sinn Féin gave him references for a new job in 2022 while he was still under police investigation for the offences.
On Monday night, just four days before McMonagle’s sentencing, a pipe bomb was thrown through the living room window of a house close to McMonagle’s address at Limewood Street in Derry.
An elderly couple living in the house miraculously escaped injury, but extensive damage was caused to their home.
The attack is believed to have been carried out by “absolute morons” in the New IRA who mistakenly thought it was McMonagle’s house.
In the days after the pipe-bomb attack, a typed message asking McMonagle to leave the area was stuck to the front door of his home.
In the message, the writer highlighted the impact of the attack on his neighbours.
“We’d all hope you would please leave our street as a sign of respect to your fellow neighbours in case an incident like this happens again,” the message read.
The note to McMonagle from residents of his street
However, McMonagle will be spending the next nine months in jail after he was sentenced at Derry Crown Court on Friday.
He had pleaded guilty earlier this year to 14 charges, including 12 counts of attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to engage a child in sexual activity.
It emerged for the first time at Friday’s hearing that the children McMonagle believed he was communicating with online were in fact police officers pretending to be children in an attempt to snare sex offenders.
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McMonagle was first arrested on August 19, 2021, at a time when he was working for Sinn Féin.
He was suspended from the party the following day after telling Sinn Féin about his arrest, and his contract with the party was later ended in June 2022.
The court was told on Friday that McMonagle used several online platforms, including Snapchat, to contact children.
Michael McMonagle, with Martin McGuinness at the SD Ard Fheis in 2016
He used a number of different usernames, including ‘Derryman’, ‘Mick Derry’ and ‘In Derry’.
The content of the discussions he had with the police officers posing as children was “sexual in nature” and included McMonagle telling one young girl how to masturbate.
On another occasion, he sent a young girl a picture of his erect penis.
Evidence from a large number of the sexually explicit discussions were outlined in court.
When first questioned by police, McMonagle claimed he had not knowingly communicated with young people under 16, despite the police ‘decoy’ profiles indicating the children were as young as 12 years old.
When he first appeared in court in August 2023, McMonagle denied the offences, which took place between May 2020 and August 2021, but pleaded guilty at a court hearing in September this year.
A few days after his guilty plea, it was revealed two former colleagues of McMonagle’s in Sinn Féin had provided references for him to get a job with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) in September 2022.
Neither of the references mentioned McMonagle’s arrest or the reason why he had been suspended from Sinn Féin.
When he took up the job with the BHF, the police investigation into his then alleged child sex offence crimes was continuing.
Michelle O’Neill with McMonagle
Sinn Féin said the party had not given permission for the references to be provided for McMonagle, adding his two former colleagues had resigned as a result of the revelation.
The controversy around the references sparked a political scandal which engulfed Sinn Féin for several weeks and led to further revelations around child protection issues within the party.
Speaking in court on Friday, McMonagle’s defence barrister criticised the level of press coverage of his client’s case and claimed it had been “politicised” because of McMonagle’s previous involvement with Sinn Féin.
The barrister highlighted that the case and its fallout had been raised in both the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Dáil.
He also claimed there had been a “total eclipse of the truth” in relation to the case, and said McMonagle had not been charged with grooming children or had never met any of the children he believed he was communicating with.
The barrister said he was not saying his client’s crimes were “not serious”, but claimed McMonagle had been the victim of a “media witch-hunt”.
Michael McMonagle
In a pre-sentence report prepared for the court, a probation officer said McMonagle denied having any sexual interest in children.
According to the report, he told the probation officer: “I didn’t connect the words on a 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’m mortified to be honest, it’s like I don’t recognise myself by doing that.”
The court was told McMonagle, who has no previous convictions, is assessed as having a “medium likelihood of reoffending”.
He received a sentence of 18 months and will serve nine months in prison, before being released on licence for a further nine months.
Speaking outside the courthouse on Friday, one of the police officers involved in the case described McMonagle as a “predator” who had used the internet to find “underage victims”.
Detective Chief Superintendent Lindsay Fisher said the PSNI used child decoys in an attempt to catch paedophiles before they “traumatise and harm children in our communities”.
“It is by no means an easy job but a rewarding one when we are able to bring offenders like McMonagle before the courts,” she said.
“Let this serve as a warning – we are everywhere.
“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.”
However, Detective Chief Superintendent Fisher criticised so-called ‘paedophile hunters’ who also target sex offenders online with fake child profiles.
“The police are the only lawful accountable authority to investigate suspected criminality,” she said.
“Not only are the workings of these groups hindering our investigations in this space, they are not in a position to ensure safeguarding issues are addressed.
“We take great care in gathering robust evidence and, yes, we welcome the public to come forward and report concerns to us, but we are firm in our messaging that only we should take action against potential perpetrators.
“The safety of victims and innocent family members should be at the forefront, as well as gathering the best possible evidence to put predators before the courts.
“We would remind these groups that their methods also fall within the category of criminality – blackmail, assault, false imprisonment – naming but a few potential charges.”
The PSNI have appealed for people to report any activity, online or physical, towards a child that they find concerning.
Similarly, if you have concerns or suspicions that an adult you know or live with may be engaging in this type of illegal activity report to police on 101 or 999 in an emergency.