Telling charity of probe 'would not' have prejudiced case

The PSNI Chief Constable has said it would not have prejudiced a police investigation if Sinn Féin had told a charity that one of their former press officers, who had taken up a job with it, was suspected of child sex offences.

Sinn Féin said the reason they had not told the British Heart Foundation that former press officer Michael McMonagle had been suspended by the party and was under suspicion was because they did not want to interfere with a live police probe.

Speaking at Northern Ireland's Policing Board, PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said he did not see how Sinn Féin raising a flag with the charity would have hindered the ongoing enquiries.

"If the question is would that prejudice the investigation the answer is - and I don’t know the detail - I don’t see how it could prejudice it".

McMonagle, 42, from Limewood Street in Derry later pleaded guilty to a series of sex offences involving children and is awaiting sentence.

He had worked for Sinn Féin in a senior role in its Stormont press office.

When the party discovered he was under investigation, he was suspended and he left his job.

Two other Sinn Féin press officers - one of them a senior party strategist - went on to write references which allowed McMonagle to take up a new job with the British Heart Foundation while he was still under investigation.

The charity confirmed that neither reference mentioned the suspension or the investigation.

Sinn Féin said last week that neither official had sought permission to provide the references and it would not have been given had they asked.

It said it had begun an internal process but both men resigned from their jobs and the party before it had been concluded.

Sinn Féin’s Stormont leader said yesterday she was "aghast" that the references had been provided.

Michelle O’Neill faced further criticism when it emerged she had attended a Stormont function also attended by McMonagle acting in his new role for the charity.

She was asked why she had not considered it appropriate to pass on her concerns to his new employers.

She said she had not seen her former party colleague even though images showed them standing only a few feet apart.