DAVID PAIGE, CONVICTED RAPIST FROM BELFAST, FREED FROM COURT DESPITE BREACH OF SEX OFFENCE ORDER

In October 2010, David Thomas Paige, a convicted sex offender from Belfast, was released from court after serving a 10-month jail sentence that was suspended for three years, despite having breached a court order.

The incident occurred in April of the previous year when a group of young girls was queuing outside HMV while X Factor star Eoghan Quigg was signing copies of his album. Paige, then 39 and formerly residing on Fitzroy Avenue, approached the girls and claimed he could help them get to the front of the line.

At that time, Paige was under a strict Sexual Offences Prevention Order, which prohibited him from associating with females or children, following his seven-year prison sentence for rape in 1998. Prosecutor Tessa Kitson explained that Paige had led one of the girls by the arm away from the queue, prompting security personnel to intervene.

The police were called to the scene, and it was confirmed that Paige was a registered sex offender.

Judge Kennedy, in delivering the sentence, stated that she believed a suspended prison term was the appropriate course of action to protect women and children, asserting that if she had sentenced him to immediate imprisonment, he might be more likely to cause harm to those he was meant to be safeguarded from.