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.
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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.