Copyright glasgowlive
A notorious rapist is believed to be living in Scotland after he breached the conditions of the Sex Offenders Act. A warrant for Simon McGinley's arrest has been issued in Ireland after he failed to inform gardaí of his whereabouts, which is a legal requirement following his release from prison earlier this year. The 52-year-old breached the conditions of the Act, which says he has to report his location to gardaí and the Probation Service, the Mirror reports. McGinley, who is one of Ireland’s most reviled sex offenders, walked free from the Midlands Prison at the end of June, having served a sentence imposed last year for similar breaches of the Act. He had been under garda monitoring since his release and remains under Probation Service supervision for 12 years, as well as being on the Sex Offenders Register for life. However, sources have confirmed that he has recently disappeared from garda and probation monitoring, prompting serious concern. “He hasn’t been seen by gardaí or the Probation Service in weeks, which is a huge worry,” sources say. “He’s basically on the loose.” Gardai obtained a court summons to bring McGinley back before the courts after his failure to comply with notification requirements. That summons has now resulted in a warrant for his arrest. Investigators suspect he may have fled across the Irish Sea to the UK, and intelligence suggests he is currently in Scotland. Earlier this year, the Irish Mirror photographed McGinley in Dundalk, Co Louth, shortly after his release. He was dressed casually and appeared to be living freely despite his status as a monitored offender. McGinley’s crimes shocked the nation. In 2008, he broke into the home of an 85-year-old woman in Co Monaghan, where he raped her repeatedly throughout the night. The victim, who suffered from dementia, was unable to testify at trial, but her earlier statement was read to the jury. For that horrific attack, McGinley was sentenced to 21 years in prison, of which he served 13 before being released from Arbour Hill Prison in October 2022. He was already known to authorities for a previous conviction in 1998, when he received a 12-year sentence for the rape of a 13-year-old girl who was the victim at the centre of the infamous “C Case”, a legal battle over whether she could travel to the UK for an abortion after becoming pregnant from the assault. The survivor later spoke publicly about the trauma McGinley caused, telling RTÉ Radio in 2009: “He ruined my life and I am still coming to terms with that. My life is destroyed. I never got schooling or anything like that. I don’t know how many times I tried to kill myself, but I have a little son now and he keeps me going.” During McGinley’s 2009 trial for the Monaghan rape, Mr Justice Birmingham described the crime as being “at the top of the upper end” of sexual offences. “Rape is always a serious offence, but within the spectrum of rapes this is just about as bad as it gets,” he said. McGinley has been compared to notorious predator Larry Murphy and was once considered a person of interest in the disappearance of JoJo Dullard. His disappearance from supervision has raised alarm among law enforcement, who describe him as a dangerous and volatile sexual predator. Gardai continue to liaise with UK authorities amid fears that McGinley is now hiding somewhere in Scotland. A source close to the investigation added: “Given his past, every day he remains at large is deeply concerning. He is a dangerous man who needs to be located as soon as possible.”
