'C Case' rapist guilty of attacking 86-year-old

The rapist at the centre of the "C Case" in the 1990s has been found guilty by a Central Criminal Court jury of raping an 86-year-old woman after breaking into her home last year.

Simon McGinley (aged 35) of Latlorcan Court, Monaghan and originally from Dundalk, was previously jailed for 12 years in 1998 after pleading guilty to raping the then 13-year-old girl at the centre of the "C Case" on August 27, 1997.

McGinley had pleaded not guilty to raping the elderly woman on June 16, 2008 and to burgling her home with intent to steal on the same occasion but was convicted by the jury of rape on day 9 of the trial following over three hours' deliberation. He was found not guilty of burglary.

Mr Justice George Birmingham thanked the jury of four women and eight men for their attention throughout the trial and excused them from further jury service for 10 years.

Mr Justice Birmingham certified McGinley as a sex offender and remanded him in custody until July this year when he will be sentenced.