BY RONAN MCSHERRY

CASTLEDERG rapist Eamon Foley (47) is to remain in custody after his hearing for bail was adjourned at Derry Magistrates Court on Thursday.

On Tuesday he was dramatically arrested outside Magilligan Prison mere seconds after being released having served eight years of his 16-year sentence for raping pensioner Mary-Anne McLaughlin in January 1999. The 91-year-old woman died just weeks after she was attacked at her isolated mobile home in Castlederg. The judge at his trial noted that, "The assault on her hastened her death."

News of unrepentant Foley's imminent release sparked widespread outrage last month when it was first reported in the UlsterHerald. He was arrested at the exit doors of the prison by PSNI officers on foot of a charge of being in breach of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, a criminal act, by not supplying a suitable address.

After last Tuesday's court hearing in Magherafelt, Foley was remanded back into custody. Terry Doherty, chairman of the Multi-Agency Sexual Risk and Management panel (MASRAM) told the court that Foley is in complete denial of the offence of raping the pensioner, had not been co-operative during assessment and had not engaged with probation.

Turning down Foley's bail application Magistrate Bernie Kelly said, "He has broken one condition of the Interim Conditions Order handed down on September 26 and it seems logical to suggest that the chances are he will not comply to other conditions."

At Foley's Court appearance in Limavady three weeks ago, the MASRAM assessment panel described him as that he is a "high risk offender who continues to present a danger to any female child or adult". It stated that his offending is "impulsive and opportunistic". The report also said that, not only did Foley reject any assistance when in prison, but he has been threatening towards staff attempting to assess him.

Foley will appear before Derry Magistrates Court again on October 25.