EXCLUSIVE: It had been expected he would spend most the rest of his adult life behind bars
Dominic Noonan, now aged 61. (Image: MEN Media)
Manchester gangland figure Dominic Noonan has been released from prison on licence, the Manchester Evening News understands.
In May 2018 the now 61-year-old, who had changed his name to Domenyk Lattlay-Fottfoy, was convicted of 13 historical sex offences against four young boys aged as young as 10.
He was jailed for 11 years after a jury found him guilty. He had denied all 13 charges he faced.
But a jury at Manchester Crown Court found him guilty of eight counts of indecent assault, one count of attempted rape, two of inciting a child into sexual activity, one count of sexual assault and one of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
His 11-year sentence for those offences was to begin at the end of a separate 11-year jail sentence that was already serving for arson, blackmail and perverting the course of justice, passed in 2015.
The Manchester Evening News understands Noonan was freed earlier this month, and he intends to attempt to make an appeal against the sex offences.
The nature of his release has not yet been confirmed by the Home Office.
Prosecutors alleged he ‘groomed and sexually assaulted’ young boys over several decades after plying them with drink and drugs. They claimed he traded on his ‘notoriety’ and ‘reputation’ in Manchester to commit the offences.
GMP mug shot after Dominic Noonan was convicted of 13 historical sex offences in 2018(Image: MEN Media)
It had been expected he would spend most of the rest of his adult life behind bars.
But a HM Prison and Probation Service spokesperson said: “Offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions and we do not hesitate to send them back to prison if they break the rules.”
Offenders released on licence are supervised by the Probation Service and are subject to strict conditions including restrictions on their movements and contact with others. They can be recalled to prison for breaching these conditions or exhibiting behaviour suggesting they pose an increased risk to the public.
When he was sentenced in 2018 Noonan was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order. This will make him subject to a number of prohibitions upon his release, aimed at eradicating the risk of further offending, for example, regarding what contact he is allowed with children.
Manchester Evening News coverage of Dominic Noonan’s escape in January 1993. His ‘kidnap’ was actually an elaborate break out.
The prosecutor in the case said he had been found guilty of sexual offences over a number of decades, which showed his behaviour was ‘entrenched’ and not something ‘age or infirmity’ will necessarily prevent.
Alongside the order Judge Rudland said he will be subject to strict licence conditions when he is eventually released.
Noonan had been serving his sentence at HMP Five Wells in Wellingborough but was later moved to HMP Full Sutton in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Before being sentenced Noonan was regarded as the head of an infamous crime family. This followed the deaths of his two brothers. Damien, aged 37, was killed in a motorcycle accident in the Dominican Republic in 2004 and Dessie, 45, was murdered in 2005 in Chorlton.
Dominic gained national notoriety as Dessie was stabbed to death just days before a TV documentary about the brothers was aired. Dominic attempted to usurp the police investigation into Dessie’s death by making his own appeal for information.
Before his death, Dessie had been interviewed alongside Dominic for the documentary. In it Dessie Noonan boasted of being behind 27 killings. GMP attempted but failed to stop it being broadcast after his death.
The Noonan family hailed from Whalley Range, Manchester, and Dominic is one of 14 siblings born to Irish parents. The three brothers specialised initially in armed robbery but later saw an opportunity when the Madchester music phenomenon took off.
They took over the doors of the Hacienda nightclub and thus the supply of drugs at the venue, to cement their reputation as gangland main players.
Domenyk Lattlay-Fottfoy – alias Dominic Noonan. (Image: MEN Media)
Dominic was involved in two high-profile incidents. In the 1990s he was abducted from a prison van at traffic lights in Pendleton, Salford. But the incident was a ruse to spring him from custody.
Then in May 2014 in a protest against GMP he climbed the Big Wheel in Piccadilly Gardens. For six hours he sat perched 100ft up as a large part of the city centre was cordoned off.
His name change was another attack on authority. Domenyk Lattlay-Fottfoy stood for ‘Love all those that love all you – f*** off those that f*** off you’.
He was handed a nine-and-a-half year jail sentence in 2005, when a gun and ammunition were found under the bonnet of his Jaguar when police stopped him. Consequently a judge described him as ‘a very dangerous man’.
He remained a target criminal for GMP and other forces after being released on licence five years later. He had a go at being a stand up comedian but was recalled to prison after as a pedestrian, he was involved in a “road rage” incident with a woman in Gorton. During the fracas he shouted “Do you know who I am”.
In the summer of 2011 his profile rose again when he was suspected of orchestrating riots in Manchester city centre which resulted in wholesale looting and stores being torched and wrecked.