A court was told of a delay of more than a year to examine a phone in the case of a sex offender accused of breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO).
Gary Steven Smith (38), with an address listed as Damhead Road near Maghaberry, is charged in relation to January 6, 2025.
It is alleged that being the subject of a SOPO, defendant ‘without reasonable excuse sent a social media message to a female under the age of 18 years, an act you were prohibited from performing under the said Order’.
Craigavon Magistrates’ Court was told the allegation related to TikTok.
The court heard the defendant had been on remand in custody for over a year in connection with the case and a phone was still awaiting examinaion.
A defence lawyer said the charge should be dismissed because of length of time the case was taking and police could still continue with their investigations.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan was told the defendant had a previous breach of a SOPO, in 2020.
For the matter before the court the judge said the time spent on remand in custody was equivalent to a sentence towards the top end of sentencing in such a case if it was at the Crown Court.
The judge said he had previously issued a “warning” that there should be progress in the case and said, although he appreciated there were “resource issues” regarding phones being examined, he could not “allow things to drift”.
He said the delays connected to phones was “wrong in principle, wrong in practice, and somebody needs to look at it” and more resources could be looked at.
He added: “But I am refusing to remand Mr Smith again today. The matter can go by way of report.”
