Convicted sex offender abandons appeal against sentence and begins four-month prison term
A sex offender has started a four-month prison sentence after he abandoned an appeal of an earlier sentence.
At the County Court of Appeal, sitting in Downpatrick, Tiernan Padhraig Lawless was set to lodge an appeal against the sentence handed to him in Downpatrick Magistrates’ Court earlier this year.
Defence solicitor John Keown confirmed however, the 23-year-old was formally withdrawing the appeal so Judge Sandra Crawford could affirm the sentence.
Imposing the four-month sentence, the judge said it had been a “well advised decision” given that under her powers, “I could have increased the sentence”.
Earlier this year Lawless, originally from Castlewellan but now with an address at Glenfarne Place, Larne, admitted a single count of breaching the Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) on April 21.
The court heard that having been arrested in relation to another matter, the convicted sex offender “was found to be in possession of a mobile phone”.
Under the terms of his SOPO, Lawless has to seek permission from his designated risk manager to have any phone and in this instance, “that was not the case”.
Jailing Lawless, District Judge Trevor Browne highlighted the defendant had a multiplicity of breaches in his previous offending, declaring “the court has run out of patience”.
"He just hasn’t been listening to what he has been told,” the judge said. “He has repeatedly breached this order and it is there for a reason – to protect the public.”
Imposing a four-month sentence, Judge Browne told Lawless he had “completely ignored it [the SOPO] and you are going to pay the price”.
The SOPO was imposed in May 2022 when Lawless was handed a 20-month sentence for having sex with a 14-year-old girl whom he groomed.
He entered guilty pleas to one charge of sexual grooming, four counts of sexual activity involving penetration with one girl and one charge of sexual activity with a child under 16 in relation to her friend, between November 4-7, 2020.
Downpatrick Crown Court heard how Lawless had been exchanging text and social media messages with the teenagerl, as well as numerous FaceTime calls with her.
"She formed the view that they were, in her words, ‘good mates’,” said Judge Geoffrey Miller KC when he was jailing Lawless, adding that on October 16 he asked her to “come for a buck”.
Four days later, due to concerns the victim’s mum had, she told him during a FaceTime call her daughter was just 14 and “told him not to contact her”.
Despite that, on November 5, the teenager told her parents she was staying at her friend’s house but instead, the girls met Lawless in a Castlewellan park and he bought them Buckfast and Dragon Soup [an alcoholic drink].
With her friend gone home, the girl was reported missing in the early hours and when police found them, she denied there had been any sexual contact.
Once home, however, she told her mum “she had had unprotected sex under the influence of alcohol” and also that she had performed a sex act on Lawless.
Arrested and interviewed Lawless largely gave “no comment” replies to police questions, even when forensic DNA evidence and “hundreds” of messages were put to him.
In addition to the SOPO, he is also on the police sex offenders register for 10 years.