OUTRAGE | 

Woman traumatised by rapist Noel Cowan says short jail term is ‘a kick in the teeth’

The perverted former football coach was sentenced to six-and-a-half years this week for a litany of sex offences.

Yesterday at 15:00

A victim of rapist Noel Cowan says his sentence is a kick in the teeth and should be reviewed as unduly lenient.

The perverted former football coach was sentenced to six-and-a-half years at Craigavon Court this week for a litany of sex offences.

He had pleaded guilty to three counts of rape, 12 sexual assaults, two sexual assaults on a child, eight counts of possession of indecent images and two drugs charges.

The father of four will serve half his sentence in prison and the rest on licence, so he’ll do just three years and three months in jail.

One of the women – who was sexually assaulted twice by Cowan – believes she and his other adult victim were drugged to allow him to indulge his sick sexual fantasies in the multiple attacks.

He admitted to possession of diazepam and cannabis and that he used ecstasy, cocaine and powerful sedative Xanax.

The 47-year-old, who was pictured as part of the green-and-white army of Northern Ireland fans before Euro 2016 in France, had downloaded pictures of unconscious women being raped from the dark web and then recreated the images using his two adult victims.

One victim – who was stripped naked in an image Cowan kept on his phone for several years and partially clothed in another – believes he couldn’t have done that without her knowledge unless she’d been drugged.

Cowan, who was known to both women, claimed they were insensible from drinking alcohol.

She plans to ask the Director of Public Prosecutions to refer the sentence – handed down by Judge Patrick Lynch at Craigavon Crown Court on Tuesday – to the Court of Appeal.

He also imposed a ten-year sexual offences prevention order and banned Cowan from working with children indefinitely.

“It was such a kick in the teeth,” said the victim.

“The sentences were woeful. We couldn’t believe they were so lenient. It just felt like we weren’t taken seriously.

“When someone is assaulted or abused, they carry that for the rest of their life. It’s bad enough being abused by a person but then to feel like you’re being abused by the justice system as well.

“Is it any wonder that victims don’t come forward.”

Victims, their families, and members of the public who are concerned about a sentence can contact the DPP directly or through a public or legal representative. They have 28 days to raise their concerns.

“That is something I would like to happen and I will be contacting the DPP about Cowan,” she said.

“He was given credit for pleading guilty but I know he did that to stop the details of what he did coming out.

“He knows if you plead guilty you get a lighter sentence.”

Cowan’s crimes came to light in September 2020 when the PSNI received a report about suspicious internet activity. That led police to indecent images of a 10-year-old girl, also known to him.

He had sexually assaulted her under the guise of a game he called ‘find the Polo’, when he’d conceal the sweet on himself and then on her.

He touched her on the skin of her chest and her thigh. The victim was too young at the time to realise Cowan’s perverted intent, but in victim-impact statements she said she now suffers from panic attacks and paranoia, and has lost trust in adults. The assaults also had a devastating impact on her parents.

Cowan, of Russell Street in Armagh – a former youth coach with Portadown FC – refused to give police the pass code to his phone.

When the PSNI did gain access to it, they found the images of his adult victims, one of whom he had raped three times.

“We found out about it when the police came to the door nearly two years after he was caught with the pictures of the wee girl.

“You would give the code to your phone if you were innocent, but he used to boast that iPhones were the best for security. We just didn’t know at the time why it was so important to him.

Drugs

“He was trying to say he didn’t want the police to get into his phone because he was protecting the people he’d got drugs from.

“His dealer even said to him he didn’t care, to give the police the code.”

She says Cowan has another phone, and he’s also refusing to give police access to it.

The rapist has told police he didn’t share any of the material, and the PSNI hasn’t found any evidence of distribution, but given his lack of cooperation the victim says she’s not reassured.

“I always thought he was a sleazeball but I never thought he was capable of this,” she added.

“I think he’s trying to play everyone here. He tried to say his drug use made him what he is, and that’s what caused the risky behaviour but it was known he was taking drugs and his drug use was never that bad.

“If this is a man who is rehabilitated then why doesn’t he give the police access to his other phone?”

The victim says she is trying to rebuild her life. She also has concerns for the other woman in the case, who was the target of most of Cowan’s sick behaviour.

“I’m just trying to get on with it. I can’t change the situation, although I’m completely sickened by the sentence.

“This has destroyed her. She will never be the same again.”