April 2020
Child rapist left to sweat over extended jail term
A man who raped a child could face added time behind bars for breaching the terms of a court order, but he will not find out until the coronavirus crisis ends.
The killer virus has delayed John Patrick Smyth being sentenced for two breaches of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) and failing to comply with notification requirements.
The dangerous paedophile’s case is not likely to be heard until the autumn, meaning he will spend the summer sweating over a possible extended prison term.
The 40-year-old was caged again last year just days after he was freed from jail. As part of his early release conditions, Smyth had been instructed to stay at the Innis hostel in the centre of Belfast.
But he went missing from the complex on April 16, before turning up 72 hours later at a flat on Great Northern Street in the Village area of the city.
The child sex predator refused to let police inside the property, which sits in the shadow of Windsor Park stadium.
He was eventually arrested and in June last year a judge ordered that he be returned to prison until September 3 next year – the date when his original sentence for rape and gross indecency with a child expires.
Smyth was due to be sentenced for the SOPO breaches last week. However, the case has now been delayed because of Covid-19.
As well as being a paedophile, he has convictions for aggravated assault, possessing an offensive weapon and making threats to kill.
Probation sources told Sunday Life that the pervert was notoriously “hard to handle”. His latest SOPO breaches were the fourth time he has flaunted court orders designed to protect children from him.
He was returned to prison for a period during 2018, having gone missing from the Innis Centre and being found in a comatose state on prescribed drugs.
Before that he was jailed for 10 months after pleading guilty to living at an address outside his approved accommodation on dates between October 2016 and January 2017 and communicating with children.
Smyth also confessed to contacting a male, who he is banned from going near, and taking a job with a furniture delivery firm which brought him face-to-face with unsuspecting kids.
The company had no idea that it was employing the child rapist, who used the fake name John Coleman, and sacked him as soon as it became aware of his real identity.
In 2015 the Prison Service had to issue an appeal for Smyth’s whereabouts after he went on the run from Magilligan jail while out on temporary release.
The following year the PSNI did the same when he disappeared from his approved accommodation at the Innis Centre.
Smyth was at it again at the end of 2016, breaking curfews at the Dismas House hostel on Belfast’s Ormeau Road, which ended up with him being jailed.
September 2015
Child sex offender John Patrick Smyth back in custody
A 29-year-old sex offender who was declared ‘unlawfully at large’ has been re-arrested.
John Patrick Smyth went missing on Monday after failing to return to prison after home leave.
He was detained by police in the Antrim area.
His previous offences include
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Gross indecency with or towards a child
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Rape
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Aggravated assault
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Armed with offensive weapon with intent to commit offence
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Threat to kill
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