Mr Justice McLaughlin said “I feel uncomfortable in continuing to remand the defendant in custody.”
Mr Justice McLaughlin told Belfast High Court, given the fact that Robert John Parke has been in custody for nine months and there likely to be no movement in the case for another three months, “I am beginning to entering the territory of pre-judging how a sentencing judge might deal with this case.”
He said that despite police concerns regarding the perceived risk posed by the 33-year-old and the “outrageous” nature of the allegations against him, given the time served on remand, the further delays and the lack of progress, “I feel uncomfortable therefore, in continuing to remand the defendant in custody.”
Parke, a former bar manager from Ardcarn Drive in east Belfast, has been in custody since he was first charged with five sex offences in January this year.
On an indictment covering a time span between 11 May 2023 and 19 February 2024, the 33-year-old faces allegations of possessing prohibited images of children, possessing and distributing indecent images of children, having extreme pornography and that he “incited another to take an indecent image of a child.”
The court has heard previously that “even seasoned detectives” were shocked at the material and chat logs they uncovered on devices seized from Parke.
In addition to 1,100 indecent images, including material which depict acts of rape, the court heard how Parke was involved in online discussions where he and others talk about “their desire to kidnap, decapitate and rape a child.”
Detectives also uncovered further chats about “grabbing, drugging and raping a child” and Parke allegedly asked an individual to record himself abusing his younger brother and daughter.
Given those alleged requests, police are concerned that Parke “is inciting others to create first generation material,” the court was told.
The court heard that during searches of Parke’s home, police seized “at least a dozen empty boxes that had contained smart phones.”
In court today, Detective Constable Gilchrist repeated police concerns that Parke’s home is in the middle of a densely populated, residential area, surrounded by family homes and schools.
He revealed that as a result of the investigation into Parke, two other men have been arrested by police, one who has already been remanded into custody, charged with committing a “contact” sex offence and another who is on police bail until January next year.
The officer told Mr Justice McLaughlin that although the police investigation file is complete, it has to be reviewed by a senior detective before it is then sent to the PPS.
Defence counsel Stuart Magee highlighted however, that despite assurances in the past, the police have repeatedly missed deadlines for the file to be submitted.
He argued that even if the file is submitted to the PPS in the next week or two, it will be a further eight to 12 weeks before there is a decision on the charges, a delay which would well be added to if the PPS directing officer requests further information.
The High Court, Belfast
News in 90 Seconds,Wednesday, September 10
The barrister highlighted that Parke had been on police bail for a year before he was charged to court, during which time there were no bail breaches and no further offending and that when he was questioned, he made partial admissions.
Mr Justice McLaughlin told the court while the police and PPS contend that Parke poses a risk and a danger, “the question for me is whether those risks can be managed on bail.”
He ruled that with a catalogue of conditions attached to the bail order, that Parke could be released on bail.
Those conditions include that Parke must reside at home, that he must not loiter near any child-centred facility, that he has no unsupervised contact with children and he is prohibited from having any device which can access the internet.
The judge said while Parke can have a mobile phone, “it should not have any internet capability” and as well as registering it with police, he is not allowed to delete anything from it and has to grant officers full access to examine it.