William Sempey was charged with a single offence of attempted sexual communication with a child
Appearing in the dock of Coleraine Magistrates Court, 46-year-old William Sempey was charged with a single offence of attempted sexual communication with a child.
The charge alleges that on 9 July this year Sempey, from Staffa Drive in Ballymena, “for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, intentionally attempted to communicate with a person under 16 years, the communication being sexual, or intended to encourage the said person to make a communication that was sexual, and you did not reasonably believe that she was 16 years or over”.
William Sempey who was caught in a paedophile hunter sting
News in 90 seconds – 11th August 2025
During a contested application for bail, the court heard how police were called to Sempey’s address on Friday evening following reports of a local group, “accusing him of being a paedophile and that it as being live streamed”.
A police constable told the court that when officers arrived, “a hostile crowd had gathered” outside the address and officers spoke to the leader of the paedophile hunter group.
“He identified himself as the founder of COPE (Child Online Protection Enforcement) and he said that he had been contacted by another group based in England, who had been using a decoy profile of a 14-year-old girl,” said the officer.
According to the paedophile hunters, a profile allegedly attributable to Sempey had been sending sexualised images and messages to the decoy profile.
She said although the police had not seen the actual messages, “police have seen screenshots of the messages and conversations”.
Turning to bail objections, the constable said while Sempey does not have a record, “he was arrested for similar offences in 2018” but that had ended in a no prosecution decision.
The court heard there are also concerns about Sempey’s safety regarding his mental health and statements he made to police and the officer added there were also perceived risks if the defendant was to go back to Ballymena.
Revealing that Sempey is classed as a “vulnerable individual,” defence solicitor Stewart Ballentine conceded the defendant cannot go back to the family home.
The solicitor argued given the fact there was no actual child involved, in addition to Sempey’s lack of convictions, the 46-year-old could be granted bail subject to an approved address.
District Judge Peter King told him however, “he did not know there was no girl involved” and given that he has no bail address, his application to be released “falls at the first hurdle.”
The judge added that due to the nature of the charge, he would not be content “devolving the address issue down to the police.”
Remanding Sempey into custody and adjourning the case to 4 September, Judge King said if a bail address outside of Ballymena becomes available in the meantime, “the court can re-list bail.”