In March 2020, Michael McCollum was handed a four and a half year sentence after he admitted 17 sex offences.
Appearing at Ballymena Magistrates Court by video link from HMP Maghaberry, 27-year-old Michael McCollum was charged with two offences, both alleged to have been committed on 16 July last year.
McCollum, from Curragh Hill in Carnlough, is charged with making and possessing 58 indecent images of children.
The court heard that McCollum “does not want to be released” due to concerns over his own safety.
Michael McCollum
A prosecuting lawyer said the “full file will be received by 11 September” so she was seeking a four week adjournment.
Defence counsel Grant Powles raised no objection to that and accordingly, District Judge Nigel Broderick remanded McCollum back into custody and adjourned the case to 18 September.
McCollum was last in court in February this year when he was ordered to complete 100 hours community service for breaching the police sex offenders register on the same date as his latest offending.
The earlier court heard how McCollum had failed to notify police of a change in his home address.
In March 2020, McCollum was handed a four and a half year sentence split between 18 months in custody and the rest to be spent under supervised licence after he admitted 17 sex offences.
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Those offences, committed between 31 December 2018 and 1 March 2019, included five counts of breaching an earlier Sexual Offences Prevention Order, six counts of making or possessing prohibited and indecent images of children at categories A and B, two counts of sexual communication with a child and four counts of causing or inciting the boys to engage in or watch sexual acts.
In that case, Antrim Crown Court heard how the PSNI were alerted to McCollum’s online activities by Lancashire police after they had been contacted by the parents of two ten-year-old boys.
The parents had discovered that a man with the moniker “almost there 19” had befriended the boys and was chatting to them via Instagram.
“Sexually graphic cartoon picture messages had been sent, along with sexual communication where the male involved had masturbated via video chat with a boy and had actively encouraged both boys to perform sexual acts on themselves so that he could watch,” said prosecuting counsel Suzanne Gallagher.
By interrogating web service providers, Lancashire cops were able to trace the IP address to McCollum’s home in Carnlough and when it raided by the PSNI, officers seized numerous electronic devices, the possession of which formed part of the SOPO breaches.
Examinations of those devices uncovered that McCollum had downloaded and saved eight images at category A and further images at categories B and C.
Category A, Ms Gallagher explained, showed images involving penetrative sexual acts coupled with sadism or bestiality, those at B portrayed showed non-penetrative sex acts while those at C involved children “modelling” in clothing.
Arrested and interviewed, McCollum told police “he had no friends or support at home” so he had gone online and met the boys.
The court heard he claimed he had “intended to talk to them about gaming but soon his weakness would show and sexually explicit messages would be sent and requests for video chats where masturbation could take place.”
