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Face of ‘Peeping Tom’ garda who spied on women’s dressing room at Galway station

Cop is sentenced for spying on two female colleagues

Today at 11:00

These are the first pictures of the ‘Peeping Tom’ garda who climbed on to a railing outside Clifden Garda Station so he could spy on female colleagues as they changed in the women’s dressing room.

Our exclusive images show suspended Garda Michael Mannion (41) hurriedly exiting Galway District Court on Monday after he was given an earful from Judge Marie Keane, who labelled his behaviour “persistent, bordering on the obsessive, deviant, deeply degrading and humiliating”.

Although Mannion was only charged with two counts of harassment, the court heard how during a trawl of 2,800 hours of CCTV harvested from cameras at Clifden Garda Station, investigators discovered Mannion had spied on his two female colleagues as they changed on six separate occasions.

The court also heard how a month before Mannion was stopped for good, after he was caught peeping in on Garda Aileen Hughes, he had been discovered spying on Sergeant Patricia Grady.

Sgt Grady didn’t report this at the time after Mannion swore ‘black and blue’ to her it was the first time he’d ever done it and begged her to think about the effect exposing him would have on his wife and two small children.

In her victim impact statement, Sgt Grady told the court she was devastated when she learned Mannion’s offending wasn’t just a once off and had, in fact, occurred on six separate occasions.

She was the target of Mannion’s peeping activities on four occasions while Garda Hughes was targeted twice.

Outlining the facts of the case to prosecutor Patrick Reynolds BL, Det Inspector Kieran Hanley said the matter had first come to light on November 23, 2019, when Garda Aideen Hughes spotted Mannion spying in the dressing room window as she changed at the end of her shift.

He agreed that 20 minutes before the end of her shift, Garda Hughes received a phone call from Mannion offering to cover the remainder of her shift if she wanted to leave early.

The court heard: “She then went into the female changing room where she spotted Garda Mannion looking in the window.

“She reported the matter to her line sergeant. It then transpired Sgt Patricia Grady had a very similar experience on the 13th September, 2019.

“She arrived up at work shortly before 10am, as was her normal behaviour, and she went into the female changing room to change into her uniform when she saw Garda Mannion looking in the window.

“She dealt with the matter at the time by herself and she decided not to report it further.

“She was assured by Garda Mannion that it was a one-off but when it transpired that Garda Hughes made a complaint, Sgt Grady came forward.”

Det Insp Hanley said: “An investigation was set up and involved the harvesting of 2,800 hours of CCTV footage and as a result of that, six different incidents were identified.”

The court heard the incidents happened over a period stretching from August 8, 2019, to November 23, 2019, where Sgt Grady was targeted on four occasions and Garda Hughes twice.

Prosecutor Mr Reynolds said Mannion was convicted on two counts of harassment arising from the incidents on April 23 of this year.

Defence barrister Breffni Gordon outlined to Det Inspector Hanley that his client would have been occupied at Clifden Garda Station with community policing duties, adding that he was highly thought of before these incidents.

Det Insp Hanley responded: “I can’t comment on other people’s perception of Mr Mannion.”

Sgt Grady told the court: “From the moment I caught the accused looking in the window at me, this was the start of a downward spiral for me. Faced with an unprecedented situation, it was me who took into account the accused’s family and the repercussions this would have for them.”

She said she was later obliged to “report unfit for duty as my physical and mental health declined significantly.”

“All of this has taken its toll on me. I’m not the happy person I was. I am anxious and stressed.”

Garda Aileen Hughes said as a result of Mannion’s actions, she has suffered from “stress and anxiety, self-doubt and low self-esteem.”

Imposing concurrent sentences of six months in prison on each of the two charges of harassment, Judge Marie Keane said Garda Mannion was unlikely to ever be allowed to work as a garda again.