The 50-year-old Strathfoyle Paedophile, Thomas Gerard Doherty, who admitted guilt to one count of attempting to engage in communication with a female minor for the purpose of sexual satisfaction, was further registered as a sex offender for a duration of seven years.
Thomas Gerard Doherty, residing at Garrymore Place in the Strathfoyle area of the city, committed the offence on various occasions in May and June of the previous year. He was also subjected to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for a duration of five years.
On June 5 of the previous year, the court was informed that a woman, claiming affiliation with a voluntary organisation focused on safeguarding children from paedophiles, notified the police that the defendant had reached out to her pseudonymous Facebook account, requesting to establish a friendship.
She told the police that she and the defendant had exchanged numerous messages for almost one month.
“She told Thomas Gerard Doherty that she was 13 and he sent messages of a sexual nature to her. In one of them he described sexually explicit actions he would carry out on her if she agreed to meet him in a local hotel,” a prosecution barrister said.
When he was arrested by the police the defendant said he was an alcoholic with mental health issues.
Thomas Gerard Doherty said as a result of this he had difficulty in remembering that he’d sent the messages to the decoy, the barrister added.
Judge Neil Rafferty KC said he was aware that the wheelchair bound defendant, who had a difficult upbringing which involved domestic abuse, had adhered to a self imposed ban on using the internet since his arrest.
“The nature of on-line offending, particularly involving children is offensive and serious offending and it will almost without exception cross the custody threshold,” he said.
Judge Rafferty said he took into consideration in suspending the jail term that the defendant had pleaded guilty and had co-operated fully with the police investigation and with a probation officer who compiled a pre-sentence report for the court.
He said he also took into consideration that Thomas Gerard Doherty’s considerable physical and mental health difficulties would put him in a precarious position if he was sent to jail.
As part of the defendant’s S.O.P.O. conditions, Judge Rafferty banned him from using any internet enable device without the permission of his designation risk manager.
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