Andrew Penniston – Portadown

31 Wednesday Mar 2021

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September 2021

Pervert ex-RIR soldier spared jail on appeal

A pervert ex-soldier who was snared by a paedophile hunter group posing as a teenage schoolgirl has narrowly escaped going to jail.

When he was sentenced at Craigavon Magistrates Court earlier this year, Andrew Penniston was handed a three month jail sentence but he appealed that on Thursday.

The County Appeal Court heard that with a “paedophile hunter” posing online as a 14-year-old girl, Penniston became involved in exchanging messages with the decoy on 23 December 2019, even though he was specifically told the ‘girl’s’ age at the beginning.

March 2021

Portadown man admitted attempted sexual communication with child after paedophile hunter sting

A Portadown man who admits to attempted sexual communication with a child must wait until later this year to learn his fate.

The 45-year-old’s barrister asked court for further time in order for a “psychiatric report” to be obtained.

Andrew Penniston, of Granville Gardens, previously had a guilty plea indicated to attempted sexual communication with a child.

On Friday at Craigavon Magistrates’, prosecution informed the court that a second charge of attempting to meet with a child following sexual grooming was to be withdrawn.

None of the facts in the case were heard, but the particulars outline that the offence was committed on December 23, of 2019.

At a previous court hearing, it was outlined that this was a case involving so-called “paedophile hunters”.

District Judge Peter Magill commented that a presentence report would be required.

Defence barrister Colm Fegan added that additional time would be required for the preparation of a “psychiatric report”.

The case was adjourned until May 21 for sentencing.

Stephen Magowan – Belfast

22 Monday Mar 2021

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March 2021

Paedophile captured by group waiting on his ‘boy lover’

This is the moment a self-confessed paedophile was snared by online paedophile hunters

Stephen Magowan (41) agreed to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old boy called ‘Luke’ for sex in June last year.

However, when he showed up near Yorkgate train station in north Belfast, he was confronted by members of a paedophile hunting group.

Magowan, with an address in west Belfast, was sentenced to three years’ probation and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years when he appeared at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday.

He pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a child following grooming.

Magowan suggested getting together with who he thought was a schoolboy after befriending him on an internet chatroom.

Despite ‘Luke’ telling him he was aged just 15, the pervert pestered him for sex and organised a meeting.

He initially ran away when confronted by a group of vigilantes who recorded the encounter, but they chased after Magowan and cornered him at an underpass.

While waiting on police to arrive, he said, “I actually thought he was 16,” before conceding the person he had spoken to clearly stated he was under-age.

Magowan also confessed to asking ‘Luke’ to perform sex acts on him and telling him to “keep this between us”.

When challenged by his captors, the predator added: “It’s not appropriate. It’s not acceptable. I understand it’s not acceptable.”

An earlier court hearing was told how Magowan was forced to flee his home when footage of him being confronted was placed online after his arrest last summer.

His barrister said: “He’s charged with sexual communication with a child, set up by a vigilante group who were waiting for him. He was tortured out of his own home and had to go and live somewhere else.”

Magowan, a father-of-one, was also forced to quit his job of 20 years when co-workers saw the online clips of him being confronted.

Michael Magee – Downpatrick

21 Sunday Mar 2021

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March 2021

Pervert accessed over 10,000 indecent images of children

A 40-year old Co Down man accessed over 10,000 indecent images of children whilst working shifts at a hostel for the homeless in Belfast, a court has heard.

Michael Ross Magee, from Ardenlee Gardens in Downpatrick, admitted 15 separate counts of making indecent images in September 2018.

Downpatrick Crown Court Judge, Geoffery Miller QC, imposed a combination order consisting of 100 hours community service and two years probation – and warned Magee that any breaches of the Order would lead to immediate custody.

Magee’s offending emerged when his home was searched on October 3, 2018. A number of digital devices were removed and examined, including his laptop which was found in his rucksack.

Judge Miller said that when this laptop was examined, a total of 10,726 indecent images and videos of children were located in various files.

At the time, Magee was employed by Northern Ireland Housing Executive and worked eight-hour shifts at a homeless hostel.

When the laptop was examined and times and dates of the images accessed and files created were checked, it indicated Magee had been viewing and downloading the material whilst at work.

Judge Miller said that as a result of the offending during September 2018, Magee was suspended from his job and the relationship with the mother of his child ended.

The Judge said Magee had offered “little or no explanation” about his motivation for accessing the material and claimed the images were ‘unwittingly’ downloaded onto his laptop whilst watching non-sexual films.

He added: “Nevertheless, howsoever the material got there, it is readily apparent that he chose to retain it and indeed view it and review it on later occasion.

“Furthermore he took no steps to move the files from his computer or report what had been downloaded to the appropriate authorities.”

It was accepted by the Judge that Magee had expressed genuine remorse for his actions, and that probation had deemed him as a low risk of re-offending.

Judge Miller told Magee he will be “closely monitored” for the next two years and warned he would have “no hesitation” in revoking the order and sending him to prison if there were any breaches.

Trevor Pierce – Brighton/Ballynahinch

13 Saturday Mar 2021

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March 2021: Pierce was released from prison and is likely to return to Ballynahinch in Northern Ireland

June 2016

Depraved paedophile abused schoolgirl ‘over and over again’

A depraved paedophile that repeatedly abused a young girl has been jailed

Trevor Pierce, 55, formerly of Brighton but now of Ballynahinch in Northern Ireland appeared at Lewes Crown Court where he was found guilty of:

One count of attempted rape of a child
Four counts of gross indecency with a child
Five counts of indecent assault with a child

The court was told that Pierce began grooming and manipulating the victim when she was just eight years old.

However, Pierce started to attack the girl soon after and committed multiple sexual offences against her over a period of several years, finally ending when she reached her early teens.

Pierce refused to show any remorse for his appalling actions

Sentenced to nine years and five months imprisonment and was told to register as a sex offender for life

Thomas Hogg – Belfast

12 Friday Mar 2021

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March 2021

Ex-DUP mayor sentenced for sex offence against boy

A former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) councillor who was convicted of sexual offences involving a child has been given a suspended sentence.

Thomas Hogg, from Brae Hill Park in Belfast, was sentenced on Friday at Belfast Magistrates’ Court for an offence against a 15-year-old boy.

The 32-year-old is a former mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Council.

Hogg resigned from the DUP following his arrest and the court was told his political career is now behind him.

Earlier in March he was found guilty of attempting to engage a child in sexual behaviour.

In September 2019, Hogg offered to perform a sexual act on a 15-year-old boy and asked the boy to perform a similar act.

Hogg had claimed he was tipsy but the judge said alcohol was no excuse for what had happened.

The judge said Hogg’s proposal came as a shock to the boy, who vehemently rejected it and reported the matter to the police.

The court heard the incident had a serious effect on the victim.

However, the judge said the teenager should understand that he is an innocent young man, who can hold his head up with pride and should not be ashamed.

The court heard Hogg has left Belfast and is now living and working in London.

The judge said he was not sending Hogg directly to jail but instead he handed down a three-month sentence, suspended for two years.

He also ordered Hogg to pay £1,000 compensation to the victim and ruled he must notify police of his whereabouts for seven years.

September 2021

Pervert ex-RIR soldier spared jail on appeal

A pervert ex-soldier who was snared by a paedophile hunter group posing as a teenage schoolgirl has narrowly escaped going to jail.

When he was sentenced at Craigavon Magistrates Court earlier this year, Andrew Penniston was handed a three month jail sentence but he appealed that on Thursday.

The County Appeal Court heard that with a “paedophile hunter” posing online as a 14-year-old girl, Penniston became involved in exchanging messages with the decoy on 23 December 2019, even though he was specifically told the ‘girl’s’ age at the beginning.

March 2021

Portadown man admitted attempted sexual communication with child after paedophile hunter sting

A Portadown man who admits to attempted sexual communication with a child must wait until later this year to learn his fate.

The 45-year-old’s barrister asked court for further time in order for a “psychiatric report” to be obtained.

Andrew Penniston, of Granville Gardens, previously had a guilty plea indicated to attempted sexual communication with a child.

On Friday at Craigavon Magistrates’, prosecution informed the court that a second charge of attempting to meet with a child following sexual grooming was to be withdrawn.

None of the facts in the case were heard, but the particulars outline that the offence was committed on December 23, of 2019.

At a previous court hearing, it was outlined that this was a case involving so-called “paedophile hunters”.

District Judge Peter Magill commented that a presentence report would be required.

Defence barrister Colm Fegan added that additional time would be required for the preparation of a “psychiatric report”.

The case was adjourned until May 21 for sentencing.

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March 2021

Paedophile captured by group waiting on his ‘boy lover’

This is the moment a self-confessed paedophile was snared by online paedophile hunters

Stephen Magowan (41) agreed to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old boy called ‘Luke’ for sex in June last year.

However, when he showed up near Yorkgate train station in north Belfast, he was confronted by members of a paedophile hunting group.

Magowan, with an address in west Belfast, was sentenced to three years’ probation and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years when he appeared at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday.

He pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a child following grooming.

Magowan suggested getting together with who he thought was a schoolboy after befriending him on an internet chatroom.

Despite ‘Luke’ telling him he was aged just 15, the pervert pestered him for sex and organised a meeting.

He initially ran away when confronted by a group of vigilantes who recorded the encounter, but they chased after Magowan and cornered him at an underpass.

While waiting on police to arrive, he said, “I actually thought he was 16,” before conceding the person he had spoken to clearly stated he was under-age.

Magowan also confessed to asking ‘Luke’ to perform sex acts on him and telling him to “keep this between us”.

When challenged by his captors, the predator added: “It’s not appropriate. It’s not acceptable. I understand it’s not acceptable.”

An earlier court hearing was told how Magowan was forced to flee his home when footage of him being confronted was placed online after his arrest last summer.

His barrister said: “He’s charged with sexual communication with a child, set up by a vigilante group who were waiting for him. He was tortured out of his own home and had to go and live somewhere else.”

Magowan, a father-of-one, was also forced to quit his job of 20 years when co-workers saw the online clips of him being confronted.

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March 2021

Pervert accessed over 10,000 indecent images of children

A 40-year old Co Down man accessed over 10,000 indecent images of children whilst working shifts at a hostel for the homeless in Belfast, a court has heard.

Michael Ross Magee, from Ardenlee Gardens in Downpatrick, admitted 15 separate counts of making indecent images in September 2018.

Downpatrick Crown Court Judge, Geoffery Miller QC, imposed a combination order consisting of 100 hours community service and two years probation – and warned Magee that any breaches of the Order would lead to immediate custody.

Magee’s offending emerged when his home was searched on October 3, 2018. A number of digital devices were removed and examined, including his laptop which was found in his rucksack.

Judge Miller said that when this laptop was examined, a total of 10,726 indecent images and videos of children were located in various files.

At the time, Magee was employed by Northern Ireland Housing Executive and worked eight-hour shifts at a homeless hostel.

When the laptop was examined and times and dates of the images accessed and files created were checked, it indicated Magee had been viewing and downloading the material whilst at work.

Judge Miller said that as a result of the offending during September 2018, Magee was suspended from his job and the relationship with the mother of his child ended.

The Judge said Magee had offered “little or no explanation” about his motivation for accessing the material and claimed the images were ‘unwittingly’ downloaded onto his laptop whilst watching non-sexual films.

He added: “Nevertheless, howsoever the material got there, it is readily apparent that he chose to retain it and indeed view it and review it on later occasion.

“Furthermore he took no steps to move the files from his computer or report what had been downloaded to the appropriate authorities.”

It was accepted by the Judge that Magee had expressed genuine remorse for his actions, and that probation had deemed him as a low risk of re-offending.

Judge Miller told Magee he will be “closely monitored” for the next two years and warned he would have “no hesitation” in revoking the order and sending him to prison if there were any breaches.

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March 2021: Pierce was released from prison and is likely to return to Ballynahinch in Northern Ireland

June 2016

Depraved paedophile abused schoolgirl ‘over and over again’

A depraved paedophile that repeatedly abused a young girl has been jailed

Trevor Pierce, 55, formerly of Brighton but now of Ballynahinch in Northern Ireland appeared at Lewes Crown Court where he was found guilty of:

One count of attempted rape of a child

Four counts of gross indecency with a child

Five counts of indecent assault with a child

The court was told that Pierce began grooming and manipulating the victim when she was just eight years old.

However, Pierce started to attack the girl soon after and committed multiple sexual offences against her over a period of several years, finally ending when she reached her early teens.

Pierce refused to show any remorse for his appalling actions

Sentenced to nine years and five months imprisonment and was told to register as a sex offender for life

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Like this:

March 2021

Ex-DUP mayor sentenced for sex offence against boy

A former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) councillor who was convicted of sexual offences involving a child has been given a suspended sentence.

Thomas Hogg, from Brae Hill Park in Belfast, was sentenced on Friday at Belfast Magistrates’ Court for an offence against a 15-year-old boy.

The 32-year-old is a former mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Council.

Hogg resigned from the DUP following his arrest and the court was told his political career is now behind him.

Earlier in March he was found guilty of attempting to engage a child in sexual behaviour.

In September 2019, Hogg offered to perform a sexual act on a 15-year-old boy and asked the boy to perform a similar act.

Hogg had claimed he was tipsy but the judge said alcohol was no excuse for what had happened.

The judge said Hogg’s proposal came as a shock to the boy, who vehemently rejected it and reported the matter to the police.

The court heard the incident had a serious effect on the victim.

However, the judge said the teenager should understand that he is an innocent young man, who can hold his head up with pride and should not be ashamed.

The court heard Hogg has left Belfast and is now living and working in London.