Belfast man fails in bid to have electronic tag removed

Christopher Henry William Tinsley, from Ohio Street, is currently facing two charges arising from an alleged incident in December 2014, namely the attempted robbery of cash and keys and also common assault.

Tinsley, 23, was released on bail on those offences on the grounds that several conditions were imposed.

Included in these conditions were that Tinsley was electronically tagged and that he observe a 10pm to 7am curfew.

He made an application to Belfast Crown Court to have the conditions varied, asking that both the tagging and curfew element of his bail be removed.

The removal of the tag, the court heard, would allow him to take his child swimming while no curfew would enable him to visit family.

Crown prosecutor Robin Steer opposed the application and said that while on bail, Tinsley had broken his curfew by being out at 3.30am. Mr Steer also said Tinsley had a “bad criminal record”.

Defence barrister Declan Quinn said his client made the case that the tag had “gone off incorrectly” on two occasions and that apart from this incident there had been no breaches of bail.

Mr Quinn also said that since the birth of Tinsley’s child last year, his client had reached a “fork in the road”, adding a child “can move people away from offending”.

Asking for the removal of tag and curfew, Mr Quinn told Judge Gordon Kerr QC that Tinsley was prepared to sign with police as many times as required.

Judge Kerr said that “considering this man’s record” it was his view that the bail conditions imposed were entirely appropriate and he therefore refused the application.