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A man was today (Thursday) handed a three year probation order for sending lingerie and sex toys in the post to three women.
James Moylan, 62, of Glen Road in West Belfast, previously pleaded guilty to three counts of harassment on dates between January and August 2022. Belfast Crown Court heard that a woman reported to police on July 27, 2022 that she had received “obscure items in the post”.
She said the first parcel arrived at her home in January 2022 addressed to ‘Lovely Lady’. Inside the package were a “pair of vibrating pants”.
A second parcel arrived on July 25, 2022 which was addressed to ‘Strawberry Blonde Lovely Lady’ and inside were a pair of black underwear and two unopened condoms. It was the prosecution case that the underwear was forensically examined and semen was detected on them.
Police traced the parcel to the Royal Mail sorting office in Belfast. CCTV footage was examined and a still image of a male was posted by police on a Facebook page in an appeal to the public.
On July 29, 2022, the victim received a third package which contained a white lace bra, two pairs of black lace pants, a ‘bullet vibrator’ and two unopened condoms. On that same date, police received a report from a second female that she had received a parcel at her home addressed to ‘Beautiful Lady of Silver Hair’.
The package contained a card which said: “Love your beautiful nature and glorious silver hair. XXX. Enjoy.” The package contained two unopened condoms and Durex gel. She told police she recognised the hand writing as it was the same on other parcels she had received in 2018.
The incident in 2018 was reported to police but the case was later closed as the suspect could not be identified. On August 6, 2022, she received two further parcels and inside these were a purple bra and purple pants.
That same day a third female victim contacted police to say she had received a total of four parcels of a “sexual nature” addressed to ‘Beautiful Lady’ and ‘Lovely Lady’. These contained “underwear sets, crotchless vibrating pants, condoms and a vibrator”. Two further packages arrived on August 15, 2022 addressed to ‘Lovely Lady With Silver Hair XXX’.
One contained KY Jelly with the word ‘Enjoy’ and the second contained a Cadbury’s chocolate bar along with a sweetie lipstick with the words ‘Use lipstick wisely’ written on an envelope.
In November 2022, one of the victim’s contacted police about their Facebook appeal and identified Moylan as someone she knew. On March 4, 2023, Moylan was interviewed for harassment at Antrim police station.
During the interview, the defendant said he had an addiction to alcohol and he had no recollection of posting the items. When he was shown the CCTV footage, he replied “it probably was me….I did not knowingly do it or have any memory of it”.
In a pre-sentence report compiled by the Probation Board, Moylan told the author he accepted that he sent the parcels, had no recollection of sending them and didn’t know his victims. But the report’s author said there was “evidence of detailed planning in his offending”.
Defence barrister Tom McCreanor told the court that there had been no repetition of the incidents since detection and Moylan has never been in court before. Mr McCreanor added that Moylan had long term issues with alcohol addiction and mental health problems.
Judge Philip Gilpin said that by sending the packages to his victims home addresses, Moylan had “invaded their privacy”.
In victim impact statements, two of the women said the offending forced them to adapt their homes, increase their personal security and change their public-facing jobs.
“I have no doubt Mr Moylan that your offending has caused considerable harm to all of your victims,” said Judge Gilpin.
Imposing the probation order, Judge Gilpin warned Moylan that if he breached it “you should well expect to serve a custodial sentence. Do not find yourself in that situation. Make sure you comply with it”.
Moylan was made the subject of a five year restraining order.
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