A JUDGE said that a convicted sex offender from Ballynahinch still represents a “clear danger to children” as he jailed him for five years for attempting to groom underage girls.
Downpatrick Crown Court heard last Thursday that Kenneth Menagh (50) was actually communicating with police officers in April and November last year when he thought he was talking to girls aged 14 and younger.
Menagh, who was living in Lisburn Street, Ballynahinch, was criticised by the judge for his “dangerous obsessions” with young girls.
He was on bail at the time of the offences and regarded as a “high risk offender” from his previous offending in England.
Menagh pleaded guilty to attempting to make sexual communication to a girl under 16 years, breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by failing to disclose his phone to police, and an attempted breach of the order from making contact with a girl he believed to be under 16 between April 10-12, 2018.
He also pleaded guilty to one count of breaching the SHPO order, six counts of attempted communication with a girl under 16 years and another attempted breach of the SHPO from November 16-25, 2018.
Police arrested Menagh on November 30 last year after they successfully tracked down his home address from his computer IP address.
Menagh, whose address in court was given as Thompson House, Antrim Road, Belfast, was said by his defence barrister, Mr Conor Holmes, to have acknowledged he had done wrong by pleading guilty.
Judge Geoffrey Millar said that he accepted the prosecution’s contention that Menagh was caught “red-handed” in his offending.
He said: “The devious and calculating nature of his targeting what he erroneously believed to be young and vulnerable pubescent and indeed pre-pubescent girls is deeply disturbing.
“He adopted tactics to inveigle them into revealing details about themselves and their friends and he began a process of grooming that was designed to corrupt them into agreeing to commit sexualised acts and behaviour.
“The fact that in each case he was actually communicating with an adult is of no relevance to the question of his belief and intent and one can only speculate as to the horrific consequences had he been able to see through to a conclusion his express and utterly perverse desires.”
The court heard that during his communication with the police officers through a messaging platform and chat rooms that he asked for intimate photographs, for the girls to his messages and to save his phone number under a girl’s name.
The judge added: “It was the first time Menagh has shown evidence of empathy for victims and an acceptance on his part that he needs to address his dangerous obsessions.
“I also take due account of the fact that before the breakdown of his marriage of 30 years this defendant had no convictions of any kind and this cannot be entirely unrelated.”
Menagh is to spend three years of his sentence in jail with a further two years out on licence. Judge Millar further ordered another SHPO to run for ten years.