Man jailed after sending threatening messages to deputy NI first minister

A Belfast man who sent threatening online messages to Northern Ireland's deputy first minister and smashed the windows of a party colleague's office has been jailed.

Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party ( DUP) was so scared after the posts on Twitter, now X, that she considered moving from her home.

Aaron Thomas Curragh, 34, from Whincroft Road, was given a 31-month sentence, half to be spent in custody and half on licence.

Curragh had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of criminal damage and one of threatening communications.

Belfast Crown Court heard that Curragh posted a series of tweets about Emma Little-Pengelly on 8 July 2024.

He also posted a video which appeared to be pointing in the direction of Mrs Little-Pengelly's house.

In this video Curragh can be heard saying Mrs Little-Pengelly had a "death threat on her head from members of her own party and the people who she goes shopping to are telling me where she lives".

In another video, Curragh said: "It's a real shame I can't upload where I am... but I hope you're alive by the time I get uploading Emma.''

Mrs Little-Pengelly was made aware of the posts and recognised the defendant from his profile photograph. She recalled meeting him in a local shop when he had sworn at her.

The court heard that on 13 July, Curragh was interviewed by police.

He admitted causing the criminal damage on 12 July and posting online about Mrs Little-Pengelly but denied further charges of criminal damage in December 2023, involving DUP assembly member Joanne Bunting.

On 8 December, Ms Bunting left her constituency office on the Knock Road in Belfast.

The following day she received a text message from her landlord informing her that the premises had been damaged.

Several windows in the office had been smashed.

Curragh posted a series of messages on his Twitter feed in the early hours of 9 December, in which indicated he caused the damage.

He posted one message 15 minutes before he targeted the premises saying: "Ready to be a target DUP" alongside a GIF showing two men, one of whom was masked.

About 10 minutes after the incident, Curragh posted another tweet which said "Always mark for payback DUP".

Later that day, Curragh tweeted a narrated video depicting a window breaking with the comment "Hi DUP remember me" and an explosion emoji.

Ms Bunting became aware of a second attack on her office on 12 July 2024.

She viewed CCTV which showed a male smashing windows both at her office and at an office next door.

Curragh was stopped by police at Roddens Park in possession of a two-foot long silver breaker bar.

He was non-cooperative, police had to use force to control him inside the police vehicle and he told officers he had found the bar.

Both Ms Bunting and Mrs Little-Pengelly provided written victim impact statements.

Ms Bunting described the "upset, hurt and fear'' she had felt following the attacks on her constituency office.

She said her staff "remained in fear of violence''.

Mrs Little-Pengelly said the incident "affected me deeply, made me feel uncomfortable and I hated my own house''.

The deputy first minister said that initially she "felt apprehensive and felt alone without my husband there".

Following his guilty pleas, Curragh spoke to a probation officer and said that after he got out of prison he planned to leave Northern Ireland as it was "so bloody divided''.

The probation officer noted Curragh presented as paranoid, claiming telephone calls in the prison were recorded.

Defence counsel Richard McConkey KC said Curragh needed a mental health assessment but the defendant had rejected this.

Mr McConkey added that Curragh had some "difficulties in his personal life in the previous nine years culminating in his offending behaviour''.

Judge Gordon Kerr KC said: "It is more and more common these days for public figures, including politicians, to be abused online.

"And that abuse, as proved in this case, went well beyond any accepted level of criticism.

"This is a young man who during the course of a number of interviews giving explanations for the behaviour displayed entirely irrational thinking."

Curragh also received a seven-year restraining order on Mrs Little-Pengelly and was warned not to have contact with his victims.