Belfast man with alleged “extreme paedophilic tendencies” back in court for breaching bail conditions three days after being released

Having been granted bail on Wednesday, Robert John Parke was back in court on Saturday having breached the conditions and it was as Detective Constable Kirkpatrick was objecting to the 33-year-old being released again, that he revealed 28 further charges against Parke.

Belfast Magistrates Court heard that after he was granted bail midweek, Parke was alerted to a threat against him on Thursday so he had sought emergency accommodation from the Housing Executive.

NIHE arranged for him to spend the night in a hotel in Carrick but DC Kirkpatrick told the court police objected to that as the hotel is “in close proximity to a children’s soft play area.”

Parke told police that despite the threat, he would stay at his bail address on Ardcarn Drive and DC Kirkpatrick said the 33-year-old was warned that if he did not stay there for the night, he would be in breach of his bail.

On Friday, officers attended the property and his mother assured them Parke had stayed there, “but police didn’t believe that.”

On checking CCTV from the hotel in Carrick, it was clear that both Parke and his mother had booked a room for Thursday night.

“Police believe that there is a serious risk of further offending,” he told District Judge Natasha Fitzsimmons, adding that police have consistently objected to Parke being granted bail.

At present, former bar manager Parke faces five sex offences, alleged to have been committed between 11 May 2023 and 19 February 2024, including allegations of possessing prohibited images of children, possessing and distributing indecent images of children, having extreme pornography and that he “incited another to take an indecent image of a child.”

He was initially arrested in February last year and was on police bail for a year before he was formally charged in January and had remained in custody until Wednesday when Mr Justice McLaughlin granted bail.

The court has heard previously that, even seasoned detectives were shocked at the material and chat logs they uncovered on devices seized from Parke.

In addition to 1,100 indecent images, including material which depicts acts of rape and sexual offending against babies, the court heard how Parke was involved in online discussions where he and others talked about “their desire to kidnap, decapitate and rape a child.”

The High Court heard this week that as a result of the investigation into Parke, two other men have been arrested by police, one who has already been remanded into custody, charged with committing a “contact” sex offence and another who is on police bail until January next year.

In court today (Saturday), DC Kirkpatrick said that “a further 28 charges have been added to the bill.”

He also revealed how police investigations have obtained evidence that Parke allegedly created fake profiles, posing as females, children and a grandparent, in order to “catfish” people online and to obtain indecent images.

Through these profiles, the officer claimed, Parke “has encouraged the physical and sexual abuse of children.

Applying for bail, defence counsel Stuart Magee told the court Parke “disputes the content” of the conversation he had with police regarding staying at the hotel as emergency accommodation.

With Parke having been granted bail in the face of “chronic delays” in the case, “what then happens is that in effect, and this is typical of the press, they publish the defendant’s street, where he is living and a threat is immediately made.”

He submitted that the breach of bail had to be viewed in the context of that threat, highlighting that there was no question of any other breach or other offending as Parke’s mother had stayed with him in the hotel “and he was not on his own at any time.”

“The defendant has fled an address because he is under threat from paramilitaries in the community and the police are using that as a mechanism to remand him into custody,” Mr Magee argued, submitting that Parke should be re-admitted to bail if a suitable address can be obtained.

Before Judge Fitzsimmons ruled on the bail application, a member of the press pointed out that at every stage since Parke had first been charged, reports on his case had been fair and accurate and that his address was already in the public domain.

“He was told not to stay at that hotel and then, when police speak to his mother, she tells them that he stayed at the house,” Judge Fitzsimmons told the court.

She said while the defendant has “unfortunately come under threat in the community,” he could have surrendered himself back into police custody instead of going to the hotel.

It was an added factor, said the judge, that the breach only became known because of police investigations.

“I will refuse bail today,” Judge Fitzsimmons ruled, adjourning the case to 16 September and ordering that the officer in charge of the investigation has to provide an update on the file at that point.