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02 Feb 2026
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02 Feb 2026
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Derry Magistrate's Court
A man has appeared at Derry Magistrate's Court charged with a having sexual communications with a person under sixteen.
John McCauley (44) of Carson Villas in Maghera was arrested on January 30 after police were called to reports of a large crowd of people gathered outside McCauley's home after it was said that he had been having sexual communications with what he thought was a child.
A vigilante group that had set up a sting operation told police that McCauley had arranged to go meet what he thought was a twelve year old girl the following day, showing them a number of screenshots of the messages that had been exchanged.
McCauley was arrested and police seized 21 phones from his property.
Bail was objected to due to a believed risk of interference with alleged victims and due to the number of alleged victims being unknown.
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Defence Barrister Sinead Rogan said that McCauley had no previous record and had never even been arrested in the past.
She added that there is nothing to suggest any risk of further offences or possible breach of bail conditions should be be released.
Bail was refused and he will appear again on February 25.
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