THE latest case against a convicted, recidivist paedophile from Fermanagh has been returned for trial.
Robert John Liddle of Moorlough Road, Lisnaskea is charged with breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) on May 12 by speaking with a female child aged under 10 which he was prohibited from doing.
A detective previously told Enniskillen Magistrates Court a report of an incident was received on June 18 after the child was permitted to go into a shop unaccompanied, while her father waited in his car outside.
An independent witness observed Liddle talking to the child and on knowing both, left the shop and informed her father.
Both men re-entered and noted Liddle in conversation with the girl after which her father took her away and alerted police. The child disclosed Liddle had told her to walk in front of him and commented on her hair. He was arrested and after caution replied, “I was talking to the girl. I know her father.”
During interview he insisted the father was present throughout, then claimed the witness “would like to have him shot” but could not put that into any context.
The court heard Liddle has been managed by Public Protection Arrangements since 2005 although his sexual offending goes back to 1983. Objecting to bail the detective pointed out Liddle’s extensive previous record including four convictions for contact-sexual offending and one for outraging public decency.
There was an indecent assault on a 9-year-old female child in 1983, and two 12-year-old girls were similarly targeted in 1990.
An 11-year-old female child was indecently assaulted in 1999 while Liddle was working as a gardener which afforded him access to children “which he exploited to satisfy his own sexual needs.” In 2014 Liddle committed an act of indecency by positioning himself to look up schoolgirls’ skirts in a supermarket, which occurred while he was on his way to a meeting with Probation Services sex-offender group work programme.
There are also nine previous SOPO breaches between 2020 and 2021 including travelling outside Northern Ireland without informing his Designated Risk Manager, and attending an event in which permission was granted but going a day earlier and using a swimming pool while children were present.
Liddle was also found in a shopping centre within restricted times 2017 and in the proximity of a children’s play park in 2018. He watched a school choir performing in a supermarket and engaged in conversations with a teenager in 2019 and the same year approached a 10-year-old child, also in a supermarket.
In 2020 Liddle watched teenagers in swimwear playing in the water and the following year travelled to Donegal and stayed overnight without approval. The detective said, “Police wholly believe that this long record of offending demonstrates the defendant’s complete disregard for any sanctions the court places on him.
He continues to seek out opportunities to engage with children. He displays a lack of self-control, poor decision making and impulsive behaviour. Despite years of intervention, he has shown no willingness to change. He has been advised about his conduct many times and hasn’t heeded.”
District Judge Alana McSorley refused bail and Liddle has been remanded in custody ever since. He appeared by video-link for a committal hearing before the most recent court sitting, speaking only to conform his identity and that he understood the charge. He declined to call witnesses or give evidence on his own behalf at this stage.
A prosecuting lawyer said there is a case to answer which was agreed by Judge McSorley. She remanded Liddle in continuing custody to appear for arraignment at Dungannon Crown Court on December 5.
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