Castlederg rapist who breached court order has appeal rejected

A Notorious rapist from Castlederg convicted two years ago of failing to comply with notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act had his appeal rejected this morning.

Eamon Foley was jailed for eight years in 1999 after he raped a 91-year-old woman. She died several weeks after the sex attack.

As a convicted sex offender he was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for an indefinite period in February 2001, which obliged him to make notifications to the police of his whereabouts and any change of address.

Then, in 2021, Foley was found guilty of breaching the terms of the notification requirements by failing to tell police within three days that he had been released from prison in May 2018.

Foley strenuously denied this breach and subsequently appealed the conviction.

At a short hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast this morning (Monday), the defendant, who represented himself, argued that he had not been convicted under the correct legislation.

Foley also told the court that he believed the trial against him had been unfair and that the judge who presided had “misled” the jury.

He asked if he could be granted the full audio recording and transcript of the trial, but this was denied by the judges at the Court of Appeal due to a lack of merit or need for this evidence.

In a unanimous decision based on the submitted evidence, the judges then ruled there was no merit ‘whatsoever’ in his appeal application.

They stated, ‘We are satisfied that Mr Foley received a fair trial and harbour no reservations as such.”