A notorious pervert has been arrested after allegedly entering a hospital without permission.
Brian McDonagh was banned from every medical centre in Northern Ireland after he was convicted of masturbating in a public seating area at Craigavon Area Hospital in 2020.
Since then, the only way the sex offender is allowed into a medical facility is if it is an emergency or he has a prior appointment.
However, this allegedly was not the case last month when the 52-year-old, from Aughnacloy in Co Tyrone, walked into Omagh Hospital.
Staff recognised McDonagh and the PSNI was contacted.
He is now facing a charge of breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) and is due back before a court next week.
McDonagh, who also goes by the name Brian Joseph McDonagh, has more than 100 previous convictions, many of them for sexual offences.
His crimes include assaulting a schoolgirl at a bus stop and masturbating in the bushes while watching kids in a playpark.
In November 2019, he was made the subject of a SOPO due to his repeat offending.
The order banned him from being near schools and entering medical facilities without a prior appointment.
However, it didn’t take him long to breach the conditions of the SOPO.
Within hours of leaving court, police received a report from staff at Craigavon Area Hospital that McDonagh had been in the hospital.
The defendant refused to leave the hospital and claimed he wanted a taxi home.
McDonagh eventually did leave but only to return at 11.30pm.
A nurse made a further report to police and he was arrested.
Read more
During interview at the time, McDonagh said after being released from the courthouse he had gone to Portadown to get food, and following this he felt unwell and attended the hospital.
He admitted to leaving and returning, saying that he did so as he had no way of getting home.
A defence barrister said McDonagh had hoped to get a lift home upon his release.
“That was not possible and he did not have the money to facilitate this.
“This is his second breach in six months. There has been nothing sinister in this breach and he just wanted somewhere to stay.”
The barrister continued: “He suffered a brain injury in a car accident, in which he lost his sister, some 20 years ago. This, he says, had led to him suffering from epileptic fits.”
McDonagh was sentenced to five months for breaching the SOPO but was back in court again not long after his release from prison.
In June 2020, the 52-year-old was observed lying on seats in the fracture clinic of Craigavon Area Hospital carrying out a sexual act on himself.
Security staff escorted him from the premises, but CCTV showed McDonagh committing the same act in another area of the hospital.
Two months later, in August 2020, shortly after 9am, staff at Aughnacloy Playgroup observed McDonagh, who lives at Sydney Lane in the village, walk past the facility into a wooded area.
Aware of the SOPO in the place, staff contacted police.It then emerged McDonagh had also been acting suspiciously near the playgroup the previous day around 8.30am.
He was again spotted in the area two hours later.
A report subsequently came in that McDonagh was seated in a playpark in Aughnacloy while a child used a swing.
A month later on September 14, 2020 at 11.25am, playgroup staff observed McDonagh standing close to the building while a number of children were nearby.
He was arrested and at a subsequent court hearing, a judge told McDonagh: “Your presence at the school clearly caused anxiety for staff and pupils who were alert to your actions.
“On January 13, 2021 you were visited by police who reinforced the SOPO terms but within hours you reoffended.
“This court has given you opportunities to mend your ways with various disposals but we’ve reached the point where only custody can reiterate the importance of compliance.”
The judge imposed a sentence of 16 months imprisonment, half in custody and half on licence, but McDonagh walked free from court having served the requisite period on remand.
In relation to the new charge, McDonagh is due before Dungannon Magistrates Court on August 7, charged with breaching his SOPO on July 8 this year by entering a hospital premises without a prior appointment and not in an emergency situation.