Killer and rapist Ian Horgan gets 12 months for two breaches of Sex Offenders Act

Horgan had first come before the court in June last year in relation to a Tinder account

At Macroom District Court on Wednesday Ian Horgan (pictured) changed his plea to guilty for the two offences. File picture: Andy Gibson

Convicted sex offender and killer Ian Horgan has been jailed for 12 months on two charges, including that he joined the dating app Tinder under a false name.

Horgan, who has had an address at 4, The Hermitage in Macroom and in Limerick, pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Sex Offenders Act, including joining Tinder under the name 'Cian'. 

The second breach related to his absence from the address in Macroom when gardaí visited it on three occasions last April to check if he was observing the terms of his bail. When he was not present it meant he had not notified gardaí as to his whereabouts as required under the Sex Offenders Act.

The judge dealing with the case said that the setting up of the Tinder account meant there was "a likelihood" that an unsuspecting man or woman could have been misled as to who was behind the account and assumed they were of good character. "The reality would be very different," Judge James McNulty said.

Horgan had first come before the court in June last year in relation to the Tinder account and had initially denied a breach of the Sex Offenders Act 2001, after gardaí alleged that between May 24 and 31, 2021, he failed to notify them of a name - Cian - that he was using on the Tinder dating app that had not been previously notified.

He said it was a typo, caused by predictive text on the phone he used, which the court subsequently heard had been lost. But before Macroom District Court on Wednesday he changed his plea to guilty, and also pleaded guilty to a separate breach of the Sex Offenders Act of failing to inform gardaí as to his whereabouts.

Sgt Trish O’Sullivan told Judge James McNulty that on May 24 last year Gardaí were notified about a Tinder account that had been set up by Horgan but using the name Cian. Gardaí discovered that the profile belonged to Ian Horgan, with photographs of him on the account. 

On interviewing Horgan he admitted setting up the account. Sgt O’Sullivan said that gardaí were never notified of the name change.

As to the second offence, she said gardaí checked at the home in Macroom that Horgan was staying on April 4 last, but he was not present. His parents told gardaí that they had not seen him since March 31. Gardaí checked again on April 6 and 7. On neither occasion was Mr Horgan present, which constituted a breach of section 12 of the Sex Offenders Act.

Mr Cahill had asked the judge to be lenient in the case, stating that the information that had been received from Tinder in the United States as to the process undertaken by Horgan to join Tinder and requested by Gardaí had proved inconclusive to this point, and while his client was not present at the address in Macroom on the dates gardaí visited, it was not proven that he was living elsewhere. 

He said his client had pleaded guilty to both charges, and that they were not crimes that were harming anyone else, reiterating that the use of the name Cian on Tinder had been one in error and caused by predictive text.

The court heard that Horgan had 15 previous convictions including for violent disorder, robbery, and affray. The court also heard that he had been convicted of the rape and manslaughter of Rachel Kiely.

Mr Cahill said that his client had spent a total of 16 years in prison. He also said that his client had been in custody for six weeks in relation to these matters but the judge declined his request to have the sentence backdated.

Sentencing

Judge McNulty said: “Sadly, when one is convicted of a crime as heinous as rape, this is one of the burdens that you carry through life where upon conviction a court directs you to comply with the terms of the Sex Offenders Act and Mr Horgan will be well acquainted with his obligations in that regard.

“He has breached them in a manner which constitutes an offence.

“The most serious aspect of it is the possibility, indeed the likelihood, that some innocent man or woman viewing the Tinder dating website might have been misled as to the reality of the person appearing on screen and assume he was a man of good character with no convictions. The reality would be quite different." 

Allowing Horgan credit for his guilty plea the judge sentenced him to six months for the breach of the Sex Offenders Act in using the name Cian to join Tinder, and handed him a second six months sentence for the second breach of the act, with the sentences to be served consecutively, resulting in 12 months' imprisonment.

Recognisance for appeal was set on Mr Horgan's own bond of €100 and also two independent sureties to be approved by the court, both for €15,000, with €5000 of that in cash.