It was a very busy week in the Northern Ireland courts
Our weekly Northern Ireland courts roundup
The news cycle this past week has been dominated by the tragic murder of pregnant mum-of-two Sarah Montgomery in Donaghadee.
And on Wednesday, a 28-year-old man appeared in court charged with the murder of Ms Montgomery. Zak Hughes, from Ardglen Place in Belfast, was also charged with child destruction during a brief appearance at Newtownards Magistrates’ Court.
Also before the courts in Northern Ireland this week was a 19-year-old man after slurry was spread on a number of streets in Ballymena last weekend ahead of the town’s first Pride parade. Meanwhile a mother who shoved the contents of a cat litter tray into her teenage son’s mouth was jailed this week.
READ MORE: Northern Ireland priest charged with seven more child sex offencesREAD MORE: Belfast man jailed for raping and sexually assaulting teenager
Below is our weekly roundup of some of those who have been before the courts this week, beginning June 30, 2025.
Look out for:
- Slurry incident an “act of protest” against Pride parade, court told
- Mother who shoved contents of cat litter tray into son’s mouth jailed
- Man caught with cash and heroin in city centre phone box jailed
- Man who raped cousin jailed for 15 months
- Man appears in court accused of pregnant mum’s murder
- Man who blinded partner’s father in one eye in Christmas assault jailed
- Ex teacher jailed for child sex offences sentenced for breaching probation
- Jamie Bryson NAMA verdicts delivered
- Belfast man jailed for “drink and drug-fuelled highly dangerous driving”
- People smuggler jailed for “savage assault” on partner
- Probation and community service for police officer convicted of domestic abuse
- Five men jailed over botched bid to rob drug dealer
Isaac Adams leaves Coleraine Magistrates’ Court, where he was charged in connection to an incident in which slurry was sprayed in Ballymena hours before the town hosted its first Pride parade. (Image: Liam McBurney/PA Wire)
Slurry incident an “act of protest” against Pride parade, court told
A 19-year-old man told police he sprayed hen manure over the streets of Ballymena as an “act of protest” against the town’s first Pride parade, a court heard this week.
Isaac Adams, of Lislaban Road, Cloughmills, appeared before Coleraine Magistrates Court on Monday charged with a number of offences following Saturday’s incident.
The court was told that the “prank” has backfired on the farm worker, after he was caught “red-handed” by police wearing a balaclava and carrying two empty 25-litre jugs, which had contained manure, in the early hours of Saturday morning.
He has been charged with criminal damage, possessing a lock knife and causing manure to be deposited on the road.
Ruth Jennings pictured at court in Derry(Image: Trevor McBride)
Mother who shoved contents of cat litter tray into son’s mouth jailed
A mother who shoved the contents of a cat litter tray into her 13-year-old son’s mouth during a series of assaults has been jailed for six months.
The defendant, Ruth Anne Jennings, 53, from Oakvale Place in Maghera, Co Derry admitted three charges of assaulting her now 21-year-old son Jamie Jennings on various dates between July 2012 and November 2016.
Her ex-partner, Brian McMaster, 41, from Upper Princes Street in Ballymena, Co Antrim also pleaded guilty at the Crown Court in Derry to a single charge of child cruelty by assaulting Jamie in a manner to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury to his health on a date between December 2016 and March 2018. He too was sentenced to six months in jail.
The victim Jamie Jennings, who was in court to witness his mother and her former partner being sentenced, waived his right to anonymity so that his mother and her former partner could be named.
Google Street View of junction of Bridge Street and High Street in Belfast
Man caught with cash and heroin in city centre phone box jailed
A North Belfast man caught dealing in wraps of heroin to known drug users was jailed for four months on Tuesday.
Sean Paul McCann, 37, of Cu Chulainn House, Victoria Parade, had previously pleaded guilty to charges of possessing heroin with intent to supply and possessing THC ‘edibles’.
At Belfast Crown Court on Tuesday, McCann was re-arraigned and pleaded guilty to possessing a quantity of diazepam tablets. A charge of possessing heroin was left on the books in the usual terms.
Co-accused Jolene Marie McShane, 25, of no fixed abode, previously pleaded guilty to possessing heroin and was handed a one-year probation order.
Belfast Crown Court(Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
Man who raped cousin jailed for 15 months
The defendant, who can’t be named to protect the identity of the injured party, will spend an additional 21 months on licence when he is released from custody.
As he imposed the three-year sentence, Judge Mark Reel told the father-of-two: “You committed nasty offences in which you took advantage of the condition of your drunken cousin to commit a sexual offence for your own sexual gratification.”
Belfast Crown Court heard that in May 2023 both the defendant and the victim were aged 17 and therefore “both children in the eyes of the law.”
Zak Hughes(Image: PACEMAKWER BELFAST)
Man appears in court accused of pregnant mum’s murder
A 28-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the murder of pregnant mother-of-two Sarah Montgomery in Co Down.
Zak Hughes from Ardglen Place in Belfast was also charged with child destruction during his appearance at Newtownards Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. Dressed in a grey tracksuit, he stood in the dock and nodded when asked if he understood the charges.
No facts of the case were laid out and there was no application for bail. The date of the offences given on court papers was June 27. District Judge Conor Heaney remanded Hughes in custody until July 30.
Ms Montgomery, 27, died at her home in Donaghadee in Co Down. Floral tributes have been left outside her house in the Elmfield Walk.
Laganside Courts in Belfast (Image: Liam McBurney/PA Wire)
Man who blinded partner’s father in one eye in Christmas assault jailed
A 43-year old man who blinded his partner’s father in one eye in a drunken assault on Christmas Day then fled across the border was jailed on Wednesday.
Due to the consequences of losing the sight in his left eye, the injured party had to leave his job at Translink where he had worked for 44 years. James Fawl also assaulted his partner and her mother during the violent incident.
Originally from Co Clare and with an address at Alexandra Park Avenue in Belfast, Fawl was handed a two-year sentence which was divided equally between prison and licence. Belfast Crown Court heard that on December 25, 2020, Fawl’s partner hosted a Christmas dinner in her house in the east of the city. Her parents were also present and during the course of the day, Fawl consumed a considerable amount of alcohol.
William Maher at a previous court hearing(Image: Reach PLC)
Ex teacher jailed for child sex offences sentenced for breaching probation
A FORMER primary school teacher was this week jailed for eight months for breaching the terms of a probation order.
William Maher, of Kings Brae in East Belfast, appeared in the dock of Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday clean shaven and dressed in a red t-shirt and grey trousers. The 37-year-old was made the subject of a three-year probation order in May 2024 for sexually communicating with two young boys.
In May this year, in an unrelated case, he was handed a two year sentence, divided equally between custody and probation. This sentence was imposed for a total of six offences committed against two male pupils he taught at a primary school in east Belfast.
The offending occurred over a period spanning from September 1, 2021 to May 24, 2022. Maher’s offending emerged on November 13, 2023 when the PSNI received a report from one of the boy’s fathers.
Jamie Bryson arriving at Laganside Courts for a previous NAMA hearing(Image: Justin Kernoghan )
Jamie Bryson NAMA verdicts delivered
Thursday saw three men cleared at Belfast Crown Court of charges relating to misconduct in public office.
Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, 35, from Rosepark in Donaghadee, and co-accused Thomas O’Hara, 41, from Lisnahunshin Road in Cullybackey, were found not guilty of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, relating to a Stormont committee hearing that examined the sale of the National Asset Management Agency’s (Nama) Northern Ireland assets in 2015.
Former Sinn Fein MLA Daithi McKay, 43, from Loughan Road in Dunnamanagh – who was chair of the finance committee at the time, was found not guilty of misconduct in public office.
The long-running Nama trial had related to Mr Bryson’s 2015 appearance before the Stormont committee, chaired by Mr McKay, which was investigating the sale of the Nama’s Northern Ireland assets to a US investment fund.
Stock image of Laganside court building in Belfast (Image: Belfast Live )
Belfast man jailed for “drink and drug-fuelled highly dangerous driving”
A West Belfast man was jailed on Thursday for 11 months for what a judge described as “drink and drug-fuelled highly dangerous driving”.
David Gerrard Conboy was told he will spend a further 12 months on supervised licence following his release from custody. Conboy, 37, of Caffrey Road, previously pleaded guilty to a total of nine offences which included charges of aggravated vehicle taking causing damage, dangerous driving and driving whilst unfit through drink or drugs.
He further admitted having no insurance, failing to remain and failing to report an accident and handling stolen goods. A charge of burglary was left on the books in the usual terms.
Stephen McLaughlin in an image sent out by Essex police after his conviction for people smuggling (Image: Essex Police)
People smuggler jailed for “savage assault” on partner
A convicted people smuggler has been jailed for a “savage and sustained assault” assault on his long term partner.
Stephen Andrew McLaughlin, 45 and from Alexander Road in Limavady was sentenced to six years and eight months at Derry Crown Court on Thursday.
The court heard how the brutal attack was carried out in front of their four children. The court was also told how McLaughlin was “on licence at the time of these offences in relation to a conviction for conspiring or assisting unlawful immigration of Afghanistan nationals”.
Google Street View of Downpatrick Courthouse
Probation and community service for police officer convicted of domestic abuse
A Downpatrick police officer has been given probation and 100 hours community service after pleading guilty to domestic abuse and common assault against a former partner.
Alan McKinney, c/o PSNI Ardmore, was sentenced at Downpatrick Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after previously admitting to a campaign of domestic abuse against a former partner on dates between September 1, 2022 and September 8, 2024.
He had also pleaded guilty to a common assault incident on May 4, 2024.
Belfast Magistrates Court
Five men jailed over botched bid to rob drug dealer
Finally this week, five men were jailed for their involvement in a botched plot to rob a drug dealer. All five appeared at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday where they sentenced by Judge Patrick Lynch KC on a string of charges dating back to November 2022.
Kevin Cassidy, 49, from New Farm Lane in Belfast admitted carrying a firearm with intent to commit robbery. Deemed as a dangerous offender by both Probation and the Judge, he was handed an extended custodial sentence comprising of four years custody followed by an extended period of three years on licence.
Michael Francis Ferguson, 40, from Main Street in Glenavy admitted the same charge and was handed a sentence of three years and eight months. Patrick Joseph McMahon, 47, from Whiterock Road in Belfast pleaded guilty to five charges – including conspiring to rob an unknown person and encouraging or assisting in the commission of a robbery – and was handed a two-year sentence.
Belfast man Conal Neil Hall, 36, from Mayfield Square has a sentence of three years and four months imposed on a charge of intentionally assisting or encouraging robbery.
Warren Shaw, 37, from Squires Hill Road in Belfast admitted carrying out reconnaissance which was capable of assisting robbery and assisting in the commission of a robbery by liaising with his co-defendants and providing a van. He received a four-year sentence.
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