Fire Dad Was a High Risk Sex Offender

[evervigilant]

This man killed himself and his family this time last year , don't know if any of you would remember it . A Northern Irish documentary show called Spotlight has been investigating it . He's a big fat , ugly , scary looking fucker . If only someone had complained to the local "authorities" about him .

Darragh MacIntyre
BBC NI Spotlight

It is just over a year since seven people lost their lives in a house fire in Omagh.
Shortly after the tragedy it emerged that the fire was almost certainly started by convicted sex offender Arthur McElhill.
He died along with his partner Lorraine McGovern and their five children in the blaze.
Spotlight looks at the background to the fire and in particular at Arthur McElhill.


The family all died in the fire

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The programme is an attempt to find out what the authorities knew about him - and what they should have known about him.
We speak to a number of people, most of whom have never spoken publicly before, about the Arthur McElhill they knew.
One woman, Jane (not her real name), was attacked by McElhill in her home in 1993 when she had just turned 17.
"I thought I was going to die, I really did, you know. That never leaves you. You think you're going to be safe in your own house, and that wasn't the case," she said.
"He came in that morning and he didn't care. He was just like an animal, like a frenzied animal. I just didn't think that I would survive it to be honest."
Spotlight traces his life from that point in 1993, until last November. For virtually all that time he was continually monitored by the authorities responsible for managing sex offenders.
'Very violent'
Like Jane, Marie (again not her real name) believes the authorities never understood the risk McElhill posed. And like Jane, Marie was 17 when she was attacked by McElhill.
She said: "The attack that I went through was very, very quick, very intense and very violent," she said.
"It was somebody who knew exactly what he was doing and knew exactly what he was there to do. And someone like that doesn't change."
Spotlight goes on to outline what we describe as McElhill's secret life - the hidden reality which the authorities should have, but didn't, know about.
Arthur McElhill was on the Sex Offenders Register. But after first being treated as high risk, he was downgraded to low risk - which meant a lesser degree of oversight.
Spotlight has discovered that he used the social networking website Bebo, in his son's name, to chat to teenage girls.
The programme also includes the account of a teenager who stayed under McElhill's roof for three months before the authorities realised the risks she faced.
We also tell of astonishing allegations relating to McElhill just days before the fire. This particular incident will shock.
Since the fire, there have been a number of reports analysing the role of the various agencies like the social services, police and the organisation responsible for monitoring sex offenders.
All make the point that no-one could have predicted what Arthur McElhill might do - but what Spotlight has uncovered suggests the warning signals were there.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Do you have a link for this? I want to look at him

[evervigilant]

It's in the Northern Irish and Irish news . This story was on bbc ni news .

[horsegirl]

Feast your eyes on this.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ne...-13494216.html

[Unamused Cat]

It's pitiful that these people just can't go off alone and kill themselves only.

[evervigilant]

Feast your eyes on this.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/ne...-13494216.html

That's from my local paper ! Look at him , yuck . Makes my skin crawl looking at him with a wee child on his knee .

[RaVen Blackehart]

Maybe his blood pressure and/or cholesterol will do him in soon.

[evervigilant]

He died in the fire he started , along with his pregnant wife and 5 children !

[evervigilant]

The brother of a man who set fire to his Omagh home killing himself and his family has avoided going to prison after admitting attacking his wife.

Cathal McElhill, 40, brother of Arthur McElhill, had been drinking heavily when he punched, choked and head-butted his wife who was 16 weeks pregnant.

McElhill from Caldragh Road in Kinawley, County Fermanagh, was put on probation for 18 months.

A judge denied a request to issue a ban preventing reporting of his case.

At a previous hearing Judge Liam McNally said he had to bear in the mind the family background.

He said that McEhill's brother had commited the "ultimate act of domestic violence" when he killed his partner, Lorraine McGovern, and their five children by burning down their home in Omagh in November 2007.

The judge said the fire was a "red light" to the court in dealing with the defendant.

'Unfair burden'
In court on Wednesday, defence solicitor Gary Smyth said that the media coverage of the case would add to the sentence, and said it placed an unfair burden on the extended family.

Judge McNally said he had been asked by McElhill's wife to issue a media ban.

However he said it was in the public interest to see how the court dealt with the charges which carry a maximum sentence of 6 months imprisonment.

The judge added that it was a "very serious" assault and normally a custodial sentence would be appropriate.

He said he had deferred sentencing to see how McElhill dealt with conditions previously imposed and was "very happy" with the results.

He said the the defendant had co-operated 100% with every test, including a six-week residential alcohol addiction programme.

He had also not drunk alcohol since the attack, and had attended a domestic abuse programme.

Bet his wife stays with him!

[Marv]

Bet his wife stays with him!

Judge McNally said he had been asked by McElhill's wife to issue a media ban.

I think you may be right there, ev.

For virtually all that time he was continually monitored by the authorities responsible for managing sex offenders

And clearly they did their usual, sterling job.

The only real solution to problems like Arthur and others like him is death. Garrotte them all and save time, money, resources and innocent lives.