Newtownabbey man jailed over indecent child images removed from care worker register 

It means he can no longer work in a range of caring roles, such as working for a domiciliary care agency looking after people in their own home, as a member of care staff at a residential, children’s or nursing home, or as a manager of a care provider.

In April, McConnell was jailed for 12 months after he admitted 10 counts of possessing indecent images of children, and 10 counts of distributing and sharing indecent images of children between November 2013 and February 2018.

McConnell, whose address was given as Mayfield Walk in Newtownabbey when he was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court, was ordered to serve 12-months on licence upon his release from prison.

He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and will be the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for seven years.

At the time, Judge Stephen Fowler QC said a jail term was warranted due to the distribution element, and the fact some of the children being abused in the images and videos were babies.

After examining the case, the NISCC said McConnell’s “fitness to practise is deemed to be impaired” due to his convictions.

According to the NISCC, McConnell had breached provisions from its code of conduct – that he had failed to uphold public trust and confidence in social care services as he had behaved in a way which called into question his suitability to work in social care services.

The panel continued: “The public has the right to have confidence in social care services and the most vulnerable in society need to be protected from those who commit sexual offences.

“The registrant is no longer deemed suitable to remain on the NISCC register.

“Confidence in the social care profession would be undermined by allowing the registrant to remain on the register.

“Having regard to the document ‘Consensual Disposal Indicative Sanctions’, the Council was minded to grant you removal by agreement.

“The council served papers on you, inviting you to apply for removal by agreement.

“Having been advised of the consequences, and having been recommended to take independent advice, you made an application to be removed from the Register on June 16 2021, which was received by the council on June 21 2021.

“In making the application, you admitted the allegations, agreed the statement of facts, and admitted that the facts amounted to your fitness to practise being impaired.”

It emerged when McConnell was being sentenced at Belfast Crown Court earlier this year that his home was searched in February 2018 and a number of electrical items and storage devices were seized and examined.

They were found to contain indecent images of children, the court was told.

When McConnell's WhatsApp was examined, it was clear he had been sharing these images with at least three people.
The Belfast Recorder was told by a Crown barrister "one of the aggravating factors is the very young age of the children involved”.
The barrister also said that whilst it was accepted McConnell did not share the images for financial gain, his motivation was to lure these people into a sexual relationship with him.

Judge Fowler said that after reading defence reports, McConnell suggested he was disgusted when he saw the images of children and denied having a sexual interest in youngsters.

The judge added: "Had he been as disgusted as he claimed he was, one would imagine he would not have shared these images with others."