Police reaction to Michael McMonagle's 18 month sentence

Derry Journal

A former Sinn Féin press officer has been sentenced to 18 months in prison with half to be served in custody for a series of child sex offences involving police decoys.

Transcript

00:00Police and other law enforcement agencies are working in the online spaces to catch

00:08paedophiles, hopefully before they traumatise and harm children in our communities.

00:14MacMonigal is a predator who is combing the internet for underage victims.

00:18As a result of a proactive policing operation led by the PSNI's Child Internet Protection

00:23Team, it was discovered that from May 2020, over the course of 15 months, MacMonigal interacted

00:30with a number of child profiles between the age of 12 and 14.

00:35He quickly turned the conversation to that of a sexual nature, and in August 2021 attempted

00:41to get what he believed to be multiple children aged 14 and up to perform sexual acts.

00:49Police then attended the home address of MacMonigal on Thursday 19 August 2021 with

00:54a warrant and a number of electronic devices were seized to capture evidence of the chat

00:59logs, images and identified usernames he was using online.

01:05Mr MacMonigal was interviewed and charged to attend court in relation to identified

01:09offences.

01:10He pleaded guilty on 23 September 2024.

01:15Protecting the online world requires specialist skills to ensure an investigation is of sufficient

01:21quality to bring a high-risk offender to justice.

01:26We want to use this opportunity today to send a message to vigilante groups to let our specialist

01:32teams do the job that they have been trained to do.

01:36Not only are the workings of these groups hindering our investigations in this space,

01:40they are not in a position to ensure safeguarding issues are addressed.

01:45We take great care in gathering robust evidence and yes we rely on the public to come forward

01:50and report concerns to us, but we are firm in our messaging that only we should take

01:55action against potential perpetrators.

01:59The safety of victims and innocent family members should be put at the forefront, as

02:04well as gathering the best possible evidence to put predators before the court.

02:09We would remind these groups that their methods also fall within the category of criminality.

02:14Blackmail, assault, false imprisonment, naming but a few potential charges.

02:20Let this serve as a warning, we are everywhere.

02:23If you are attempting to communicate with a child online in a sexual way, you will be

02:28caught and you will face the full force of the law when you are.

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