by Ronan McSherry

'MAD' was how Gortin residents and ODC Chairman Bert Wilson described Eamon Foley (48) after his performance on UTV's Insight programme on Monday night.

The convicted rapist claimed he did not attack 91-year-old Mary-Anne McLaughlin in her mobile home in Castlederg in January 1999

Sex fiend Foley moved into a house close to the village of Gortin earlier this month after being released from prison where he had served half of a 16-year sentence for the horrific sexual assault on the old lady.

Not only has he denied committing the heinous crime, Foley made the startling assertion that Mary Anne McLaughlin was not raped while he had been framed by the police and the justice system. Foley was arrrested following the mass DNA screening of hundreds of men in the Castlederg area. At his trial, having examined the evidence from the scene and the victim, a forensic witness said the odds against the DNA belonging to anyone else were a "billion to one".

Revealing his face for the first time on the UTV Insight show, Foley proclaimed, "There was no semen in Mary-Anne McLaughlin. Yes it came out in court that semen was taken from Mary-Anne McLaughlin but what else would you expect in a country that the police were after Republicans' DNA on both sides of the border and everybody in Castlederg was well aware of this. Mary-Anne McLaughlin was not raped by any man."

Eminent consultant forensic psychologist Dr Ian Stephen observed Foley's dialogue and demeanor during the interview. "Throughout this interview Eamon is showing classic symptoms of denial in a sense that there's so much evidence against him which he's choosing to reject and substitute it with his own belief system," said Dr Stephen. "He is so strong in this, that he in fact almost appears to believe that he didn't commit the crime."

When it was suggested to Foley that he was "in denial," he vehemently retorted, "I'm not in denial for something I didn't do."

Delivering his judgment in March 2005 and refusing Foley leave to appeal the conviction, Lord Chief Justice Brian Kerr stated, "He (Foley) has made wide-ranging allegations about almost everyone associated with the case."

The judge stated that in his protestations of a frame-up Foley had pointed the finger at the PSNI, his former solicitors, a member of staff of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, the legal team that represented him on trial as well witnesses who he accused of having given perjured evidence.

During this week's Insight interview, Foley became increasingly agitated. "Would I be fighting, would I be sitting here the day in front of a camera? Would I be sitting in Gortin?" he asked. "I'd be away somewhere where nobody would want to know or see me."

Analysing the rapist's response, Dr Stephen observed, "The arrogance is there in a sense that he's right and everybody else is wrong. And he can't quite understand why the interviewer can't grasp what he's saying and take that on board. You know he's getting annoyed at the interviewer."

Displaying his current attitude, Dr Stephen concluded the best place for Foley is behind bars. The psychologist concluded, "The alternatives at the moment are hospitals, treatment centres, but if they're not wanting to be treated or cured of the cause of their offending behaviour, then it is very difficult to do that. Therefore, it may be that containment is the only possibility and the prisons are the units which offer containment."

'The arrogance is there in a sense that he's right and everybody else is wrong.' - Dr Ian Stephen