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Pervert pensioner pleads guilty after being snared in paedophile hunter sting

Joseph McDermid (70) was communicating with five different ‘girls’

Today at 14:52

A pervert pensioner today confessed his guilt to a raft of sex offences after he was snared in a so-called paedo hunter sting.

As Joseph McDermid stood in the dock of Antrim Crown Court, defence counsel Damien Halleron asked for the 70-year-old to be re-arraigned on 11 of the 14 charges he faced.

Dressed in a dark suit, shirt and tie McDermid, from Victoria Court in Whitehead, entered guilty pleas to five counts of attempting to cause or incite the girls to engage in sexual activity and three counts of attempting to sexually communicate with children on dates between 21 April 2021 and 31 January last year.

He also admitted single charges of causing a child to watch a sexual act, attempting to possess an indecent image of a child and attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.

Mr Halleron confirmed that on an earlier occasion, McDermid had already pleaded guilty to two further charges of attempted sexual communication with a child.

While the full facts of the case have not been opened, the particulars of the offences reveal that McDermid was communicating with five different ‘girls’ but previous courts have heard that in actual facts, they were decoys working for a so-called paedophile hunter group.

In court today Mr Halleron asked for sentencing to be adjourned to allow time for the preparation of a pre-sentence report from the probation board and also a report on McDermid’s health difficulties.

Freeing McDermid on bail, Judge Roseanne McCormick KC said she would deal with the case on 10 November.