‘tearful’ | 

Repeat sex fiend ‘can’t stop offending’ after admitting another assault on child

The court was told the 32-year-old now accepts he knew the young victim he assaulted was under 16

Today at 11:48

A Co Antrim creep is facing up to 10 years in jail after he admitted sexually assaulting a child — his third set of sex offences.

At Craigavon Crown Court on Friday, Matthew Browne was re-arraigned on two of the three charges against him — including sexual assault and breaching his sexual offences prevention order (SOPO), on January 13, 2020.

The court was told the 32-year-old now accepts he knew the young victim he assaulted was under 16.

A further charge of a SOPO breach was left on the books and Browne was remanded back into custody with sentencing to take place in late November.

It will be the third time the deviant, from Halfpenny Gate Road in Moira, will be sentenced for sick sex crimes.

In 2017 he was put on probation after he admitted a raft of offences and later, while subject to a SOPO, he tried to entice a 13-year-old girl to have sex with him.

In April last year he was handed a three-year sentence after confessing to four offences including sexual communication with a child, attempting to breach his SOPO and two of breaching the court-imposed SOPO, all committed within the space of just a month back in 2020.

According to an agreed set of facts, CCTV had recorded a 13-year-old girl getting into Browne’s car on October 30 and when cops searched his home a few days later, they seized a mobile phone which when examined, showed that the pervert had been chatting with another underage girl.

Browne’s SOPO, due to run until July 2024, has numerous conditions including prohibiting Browne from communicating or associating with anyone under 16, being within 20 metres of any child-centred facility, having any internet device without approval and from deleting any internet history.

Arrested and interviewed, a tearful Browne told a healthcare practitioner during an assessment that he “can’t stop offending”.