Guitar maker Stephen McIlwrath admits indecent child images and upskirting charges

Stephen McIlwrath was due to go on trial at Craigavon Crown Court but instead, defence counsel Damien Halleron asked for 12 of the 13 charges to be put to the 62-year-old again.

Standing in the dock dressed in a blue suit, shirt and tie entered guilty pleas to 11 charges of making or possessing a total of 176 indecent photographs of children and one charge of outraging public decency “by recording upskirt images of an unknown female” on a date unknown between 1 July 2016 and 30 May 2018.

McIlwrath, from Breton View in Lisburn and who is the founder and managing director of Avalon Guitars in Ards, told the court while he was admitting guilt as regards the upskirting, “the dates are wrong".

Judge Patrick Lynch KC said as long as McIlwrath was accepting his guilt “the dates are irrelevant” and can be amended following submissions.

After the brief re-arraignment, prosecuting counsel asked for a further charge of possessing indecent images “with a view” to either show or distribute them to others to be “left on the books”, which Judge Lynch acceded to.

Until recently McIlwrath was the voluntary business advisor for youth charity Young Enterprise NI (YENI), had previously been spokesman for the NI Conservative Party while his guitar company boasts that the company’s guitars are used by a host of globally recognised artists.

In court, Judge Lynch adjourned passing sentence to allow time for a probation pre-sentence report to be compiled and Mr Halleron revealed that in addition, the defence would also be lodging medical and psychiatric reports ahead of sentencing.

While the judge freed McIlwrath on bail until 21 March, he warned him the fact he was being released “is no indication whatsoever as to the outcome of the case.”