predator freed | 

Crazed ‘rape kit’ stalker James Steele released from jail after just three years

Details of 52-year-old Steele’s arrest outside victim Una Ring’s home in Youghal, Co. Cork, in the early hours of July 27, 2020, horrified the nation

Today at 18:15

This is the moment rape kit predator James Steele was released back onto the streets – after serving just three years in prison for stalking.

Our pictures show the beast being driven out of Arbour Hill prison at 10 am this morning.

Details of 52-year-old Steele’s arrest outside victim Una Ring’s home in Youghal, Co. Cork, in the early hours of July 27, 2020, horrified the nation as they emerged at his sentencing hearing in February of 2021.

An Australian native, salesman Steele was apprehended preparing to enter the mother-of-two’s property armed with a crowbar, duct tape, rope and an 11-inch sex toy strapped to his body.

He had also hidden his identity by wearing a hat, a snood and had blue plastic gloves on his hands.

At Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Sean Ó Donnabháin jailed Steele for five years after being told he had pleaded guilty to charges of harassment, attempted burglary with intent to rape, possession of articles with intent to cause a crime and two counts of criminal damage.

Following his conviction, a senior source with knowledge of the investigation that led to Steele’s capture, detailed how:

The decision to mount round-the-clock surveillance on Una’s home was taken at a meeting at Youghal garda station on July 23 – just hours after she was warning that she and her daughter would be raped.

Officers were on their fourth consecutive night of surveillance when Garda James Heffernan spotted Steele and confronted and arrested him;

Under questioning, Steele ‘appeared detached’ and unable to appreciate the seriousness of his offences – insisting his horrific stalking campaign was ‘a game’.

While terrorising former co-worker Una, Steele was portraying himself as ‘a model citizen’ in his adopted home in Rosscarberry;

Gardaí believe that had he manged to succeed in his plan to rape Una on the night of June 27, he intended on returning to his wife and children as if nothing had happened.

Steele’s previous conviction for indecent assault in Australia occurred when he was 18 and arose after he lured a girl from a disco and then wrestled her to the ground and inappropriately touched her until she managed to free herself.

“From what gardaí were able to determine, James Steele had no plan beyond what he was going to do when he broke into the house that night,” the source told the Sunday World at the time.

“There were no flights booked and no indication he was going to do anything other afterwards than head back home to his family in Rosscarberry and get on with his life as if nothing had happened.”

Speaking of Steele’s life in Cork since he moved to this country and married an Irish woman more than 10 years ago, the source said the vile stalker worked as a salesman for a Dublin-based insulation company and had portrayed himself as a model citizen.

“He was a pillar of the community,” the source said. “He was heavily involved in the two most popular sports in the area, rowing and rugby, and he brought his own children to sporting events almost every weekend.

“Outwardly, this was a very respectable family man. His colleagues described him as a loquacious and affable sort of fella. But it was like some switched flicked in him and he came after Una Ring in a most terrible fashion.

“When he was arrested and asked what he had been doing, he claimed it had started out as a game. But it takes two to play a game and that wasn’t the case here – and he just up-scaled it all of the time.”

During this week’s sentencing hearing, the court heard Steele knew of Una from work but that they had no friendship or relationship of any sort.

In February 2020, he told her he was changing jobs and asked her to assist him with filing and IT in his new office in Cork.

On February 14, 2020, as she attempted to help him with such a move, he made amorous approaches which she rejected.

From that date until April 1, the married father of two sent her 20 text messages. She ignored the majority of these, only answering ones that were work related. He then messaged saying he was going to call to her home. Una became fearful and told him to stop contacting her.

Contact ceased but Una remained uneasy and on June 12 of that year she reported the matter to gardaí in Youghal.

On July 7, 2020, Una woke to find her car wheels had been painted pink. On July 13, she discovered graffiti on her front window and window sill.

Nine square panels had been daubed with Xs and Os and the words “I win” had been painted on her window sill.

The following day she went to her car to find a black envelope on her windscreen. It contained the first typed letter and two condoms.

The writer told her to leave her backdoor open so he could go to her home for sex. He said he hoped she was “shaved downstairs” as he liked it “smooth”.

He told her he was watching her.

Una made a further statement to gardaí and CCTV was installed at her home.

On July 23, 2020, she found another envelope on her windscreen.

This time, Steele warned her they were going to have sex and that she had two options. These included leaving the back door of her property open for sex by consent. If this didn’t occur he would rape her and her daughter.