Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Peeping Tom spied on teenage boy using seaside loo
Year’s probation for pervert, 59
A PEEPING Tom was caught after a teenage boy spotted him looking at him through a hole cut in the wall of a public toilet cubicle, a court heard yesterday.
The details emerged as Kenny James Mccloy was put on probation for 12 months and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years.
Coleraine Magistrates Court was told the pervert had contested a charge of voyeurism and, later at a police station, tried to claim it was him who was being spied upon.
At the same court in June, the 59-year-old was convicted of observing, for the purpose of sexual gratification, the boy doing a private act.
The court heard the 14-year-old, who was a total stranger to Mccloy, spotted eyes looking at him through holes in the cubicle.
The incident occurred in a toilet block at East Strand car park in Portrush, Co Antrim, on October 5, 2016.
The boy, who gave evidence via videolink, said he had been in the town with his family when he went to use the toilet.
He had been sitting in the cubicle for three minutes when he noticed two holes in the wall around the size of a 10 pence piece at about waist height.
The boy told the previous hearing: “I noticed someone was looking through. I saw an eye. I felt scared, shocked... just frightened really.
“I was in disbelief. I looked down and he moved and I could see he was wearing a red top and glasses. I got out as quickly as I could and went to my mum.”
The child denied the defendant’s counter-claim, saying: “I was not staring through the hole.”
A PSNI officer told the court Mccloy, from Loughanhill Park, Coleraine, Co Derry, said he had been visiting a family grave in Ballywillan Cemetery when he took cramps.
LONELY
The defendant added he suffered from irritable bowel syndrome and required a toilet quickly.
At yesterday’s sentencing, the court heard police were called and no one had left the toilets when officers arrived.
They discovered Mccloy with toilet roll paper in his pockets and they seized a mobile phone from the accused and a pair of binoculars from his vehicle. A search of his home “proved negative”.
Defence barrister Francis Rafferty said it was a “most unfortunate affair” and the defendant “maintains his innocence”. He added Mccloy had no previous convictions and had a good education and work record, but was “something of a lonely character”.
Despite saying he was innocent, Mr Rafferty said the accused “regrets the circumstances” which led to court.
The lawyer said Mccloy was assessed by the probation authorities as being of a low likelihood of reoffending and had taken steps to ensure he would not find himself in a similar situation again.
Mr Rafferty added it “would benefit society” if the defendant had assistance from probation. Deputy District Judge Austin Kennedy told Mccloy it was “quite sad it has come to this”. Placing him on probation for a year with a condition he takes part in any programme “designed to reduce any risk you may present,” the judge said he would also be put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years.