Convicted rapist Eamon Foley was freed on Thursday on continuing bail to find himself a new lawyer within a fortnight, after accusing his former solicitor of engaging in a vendetta of harassment against him.
Foley (55) of Drennan Road, Castlederg, Co Tyrone, was to be formally arraigned before Dungannon Crown Court for failing to annually reinform the authorities of his details as required under the terms of the sex offenders' register.
The order was imposed when Foley was jailed for 16 years, for the rape in 1999 of 91-year-old Mary-Anne McLaughlin at her mobile home on the outskirts of the Co Tyrone village. She died several weeks later.
However, because of the North’s 50 per cent remission sentencing policy at that time, he served only half of the term and was released in January 2008. Police claimed Foley had repeatedly failed to comply with the order.
Foley maintains, and repeated today he does not have to, and will not, comply with the order as the legislation requiring him to do so came into force long after he was sentenced.
Earlier his former solicitor, Colin O’Kane, asked Judge McReynolds to allow him to “come off record”, initially because of the current legal fees dispute but more importantly because Foley had lost all faith in him “if he ever had any”.
The solicitor added that Foley had accused him of being involved in “a vendetta . . . a conspiracy against him with the police, the prosecution and the media”.
Foley went on to list a series of claims, alleging, among other things, that the police officers who had been “torturing [and] harassing” him at his home were not actually police officers. There was, he also claimed, a widespread conspiracy against him and that the papers used at his original trial had been “forgeries used to stitch me up”.
He also questioned the court paperwork, saying he would not accept it, only to be told by the judge it was not a summons but rather his bill of indictment, “which is somewhat different”.
Just prior to his continued two-week release on bail, Foley told the court he would “try and search for a solicitor in Dungannon now that I am up here”, but added later he wasn’t “signing anything” “I’m fighting it . . . I won’t be signing any paperwork or register for nobody,” he added.
Prosecutor Michael McAleer, objecting to the continued bail, said that if Foley failed to secure fresh legal representation there would be an application to revoke his bail.
The judge doubled Foley’s bail to £500 and ordered him to reside at the address on the court papers.