A serving police officer who failed in an attempt to have his identity hidden from publication has been acquitted of two sexual assault charges.
Derek Montgomery (54), whose address was given as PSNI Headquarters in Belfast, was accused of twice intentionally touching the female complainant in a sexual manner to which she did not consent during an alleged incident on September 29, 2021.
No details of the circumstances around the alleged offending were ever disclosed.
Montgomery denied the charges from the outset and the case was listed for trial on a number of occasions at Dungannon Crown Court but consistently failed to get underway for various reasons.
However, today (Wednesday) after a jury was sworn, prosecution counsel informed the court they were no longer offering any evidence.
Judge Richard Greene ordered the jury to return a finding of not guilty by direction of the court.
Once the short process was completed, he told Montgomery: “There is nothing else against you and you are free to go.”
Montgomery was suspended while the case was underway, and it remains unclear if that has been lifted with the conclusion of proceedings.
The PSNI have been approached for comment.
When he first appeared in court two years ago, a defence barrister drew attention to Montgomery’s default address and said a risk assessment required to be updated, but before he could go further the presiding judge stated: “You are not getting a reporting restriction. You should know by now that is a fairly narrow avenue. I make it perfectly clear there are no reporting restrictions in place save for what is the standard as governed by Press themselves in respect of the complainant, which applies in all these cases.”
She also refused an application for Legal Aid noting: “With that address, I don’t think so. How would you get Legal Aid with those sort of wages? Take it from me, you can’t.”
This would later be overturned by a judge when the case reached Dungannon Crown Court.
