sent for trial | 

Face of man (49) charged with sending ‘filthy’ sex letters to school principal

A total of seven letters were examined and analysed during the course of the investigation.

Patrick O’Connell

Today at 11:03

THIS is the 49-year-old man who has been sent forward for trial after it was alleged he sent a series of anonymous sex letters to a school principal – containing ‘some of the most vile filth’ a judge had ever seen.

Philip McGachey of Clunbroch, Athlone appeared before Tullamore District Court on Wednesday where Judge Andrew Cody formally sent him forward for trial in the Circuit Court on March 9th.

He warned McGachey, who is facing a single charge of harassment arising from the allegation, in the event he is seeking to rely on an alibi in his defence, he must notify the prosecution within 14 days.

Details of the series of letters allegedly sent by McGachey, and of how he was connected to the letters by DNA obtained from the back of a stamp, were outlined to the court during a previous sitting in December.

Giving evidence in relation to the investigation that preceded McGachey being charged, Sgt Joanne Martin told how, on December 9th, 2021, it was brought to the attention of gardai that three anonymous letters had been sent to a national school in Offaly.

She described the letters as being of a sexual and graphic nature and said an investigation was subsequently carried out by gardai.

A total of seven letters were examined and analysed during the course of the investigation.

She said on January 1st of 2023, gardai matched DNA under a stamp on one of the letters to that of the defendant.

The injured party in the case was present in court during the December sitting and the court heard she wished to address the court.

Judge Cody was told the DPP had directed summary disposal of the trial, that it could be heard at district court level, on foot of a guilty plea.

However the judge said he was concerned that if the defendant was sending ‘vile and filthy letters’ it went beyond the jurisdiction of the court.

He said he had read one of the letters and it was the most ”vile filth” he had ever seen.

Addressing the court, McGachey’s solicitor said his client was facing a single charge of harassment and submitted that his client was in a position to offer a sum of €1,000 in compensation.

Judge Cody said the sum offered was inadequate and ‘a million miles away’ from what would be required.

Saying he believed the interests of the public would be served in reading out one of the letters, he advised anyone in the courtroom of a nervous or weak disposition to leave the courtroom.

He also warned again that the contents of the letter meant he was ‘struggling’ with the issue of jurisdiction.

McGachey’s solicitor submitted that if jurisdiction was in doubt then Judge Cody should consider refusing jurisdiction.

Describing the letters as the ‘most vile, disgusting and inhumane letters that anyone could mete out to another person,’ Judge Cody refused jurisdiction.