Arrest made after ex-Sinn Fein employee fails to turn up for court appearance

Micheal Gerard McMonagle, 41, has been charged with three child sex offences.
Former Sinn Fein staffer Micheal McMonagle (PA)
PA Wire
Rebecca Black3 August 2023

An arrest has been made after a former Sinn Fein employee failed to turn up for a court appearance.

Micheal Gerard McMonagle, 41, of Limewood Street in Londonderry, has been charged with three child sex offences.

The charges are that between May 1 2020 and August 18 2021 he attempted to communicate with a person under the age of 16 for the purpose of sexual gratification, attempted to cause a person under the age of 16 to look at an image of sexual activity, and attempted to incite a person under the age of 16 to engage in sexual activity.

McMonagle had been due to appear before the Magistrates’ Court in Derry on Wednesday.

However he did not attend, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

During the court sitting, District Judge Barney McElholm said McMonagle must attend to have the charges read to him.

It later emerged that McMonagle had been taken by ambulance on Wednesday to Altnagelvin hospital.

On Thursday, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said “a 41-year-old man was detained on a bench warrant today”.

McMonagle previously worked as a press officer for Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland and also for a time as an adviser at Stormont.

A Sinn Fein spokesman said in a statement: “As soon as the party became aware of the arrest, the individual was immediately suspended from employment and party membership.

“The PSNI has not made contact with Sinn Fein about this investigation. Anyone with information that can assist the investigation should bring it to the police.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in