Man fined for sending threat to communities minister

A Dungannon man who sent a "threatening and menacing message" to Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has been ordered to pay a £500 fine.

Gregory Mullan, 57, from Cloneen, had denied misusing a communications network by sending a message of a menacing character but he changed his plea at the last minute.

Lyons welcomed the conviction but said the fine "does not seem to reflect the gravity of the offence or act as a sufficient deterrent against similar behaviour in the future".

Mullan has been ordered to pay the fine within 26 weeks.

Dungannon Magistrates' Court heard that, in December 2022, Lyons received a message to his private Facebook account, claiming to be from a Greg T Molyneaux.

Police traced the Facebook account to a mobile phone number linked to Mullan.

Further checks showed he had used this number to contact police on other occasions for unrelated issues.

During interview, Mullan accepted the phone number and Facebook account were his and confirmed no-one else had access to either of them.

However he denied sending the message and could not provide any explanation as to how it ended up with Lyons.

A defence barrister said while the charge was denied, following consultation Mullan wished to plead guilty and accepted sending the abusive message.

After Mullan was described as an unemployed father-of-three, Judge Rafferty said: "He's not exactly setting them a very good example, is he?"

The defence conceded it was a late guilty plea but said it was nonetheless an acceptance.

However the judge said Mullan "could have admitted this when he was spoken to by police or when the matter was first brought to court".

"Instead he chose to take it right down to the wire," he said.

"He only changed his plea when he realised there was nothing to challenge so there is automatically a loss of credit an earlier admission would have brought."

Addressing Mullan directly, the judge said he had "behaved disgracefully".

He added: "MLAs and public representatives have a right to go about their business without threatening and menacing communications.

"There's nothing wrong with healthy debate but threatening people is not acceptable in any shape, manner or form."

In a statement Lyons said: "No public representative, or indeed anyone, should be subjected to such threats while carrying out their duties.

"The seriousness of the message sent, coupled with the defendant's refusal to take responsibility until the last moment, warranted a stronger sentence.

"I will be writing to the Lady Chief Justice thanking her for the court's efforts but raising my surprise at the penalty."