Convicted rapist pleads guilty to harassing female journalists

Nicola Tallant, Amanda Brunker and Deirdre Reynolds targeted by Mark McAnaw (52) on various dates in August 2023

Judge Martin Nolan ordered the preparation of victim impact statements and remanded Mark McAnaw in continuing custody for sentence on March 7th. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh
Judge Martin Nolan ordered the preparation of victim impact statements and remanded Mark McAnaw in continuing custody for sentence on March 7th. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh

A convicted rapist has pleaded guilty to the harassment of three female Sunday World journalists.

Mark McAnaw (52) appeared at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday where he was arraigned on three counts of harassment.

McAnaw, of no fixed abode but previously of Letterkenny, Co Donegal, pleaded guilty to the harassment of Nicola Tallant, Amanda Brunker and Deirdre Reynolds on various dates in August 2023.

Judge Martin Nolan ordered the preparation of victim impact statements. McAnaw was remanded in continuing custody for sentence on March 7th next.

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McAnaw has a number of previous convictions and was jailed for nine years for raping a foreign student in Co Donegal in October 2010. He was convicted by a jury in 2012 of orally raping and sexually assaulting the student.

McAnaw also has a 1989 conviction for kidnapping and convictions for assaults causing actual bodily harm from a Derry court in 2011.

He also attacked a woman in her home days after they had gone on a date together in April 2018. In this incident, he was armed with a large kitchen knife when he forced his way into a woman’s home.

McAnaw received a sentence of eight years and four months for this in June of last year, backdated to 2018 when he went into custody. The final 16 months of the sentence were suspended for 16 years with McAnaw placed under the supervision of the Probation Services.