3 days Ago By [email protected] (Patrick Edrich)
Louis McNally who was jailed earlier this month for his role in a drugs gang, went to prison in 2015 for raping a child A man who raped a 12-year-old girl he groomed on Facebook has appeared in court again for his role in a drugs gang. Louis McNally, now 31, was sentenced on Friday, December 6 to 45 months' imprisonment at Chester Crown Court after he was convicted of two counts of possession with intent to supply . McNally, of Max Road in Knotty Ash, was part of a drug gang that operated in the Warrington area.
However, the ECHO can confirm McNally was previously sentenced to more than eight years after he was convicted in June 2015 of raping a 12-year-old girl . McNally, who was 22 at the time of his conviction and lived on Salisbury Road in Wavertree , sent the child sexually explicit texts and pictures and repeatedly asked her to come to his flat. Liverpool Crown Court heard the victim had claimed to be 15 and used a fake name on Facebook.
Liverpool Crown Court previously heard how the girl, whose identity will be protected for life, stayed out all night without her parents' permission. After her phone was confiscated her dad discovered lewd Facebook messages, in which McNally asked her to come to his flat and promised to pay for a taxi . Her dad then searched her bedroom and found another phone, containing sexual text messages.
The girl admitted she had sex with McNally and had been to his flat three times. She said the first time she went with a friend, who had encouraged her to kiss him. The victim said she went to his flat again on her own and stayed the night, when they talked and listened to music.
But on the third occasion, she said he had got into bed with her. The prosecution in the case later told the court the girl asked for a taxi home but he refused, got on top of her again and raped her. McNally claimed he had never met the girl in person and that she was a Facebook friend with whom he had phone sex .
McNally said she was in love with him and made up a story because she was jealous of his relationship with another girl. However, he later admitted rape of a child under the age of 13. The girl’s dad described his anger and difficulty coming to terms with what had happened.
The dad's victim impact statement said he felt like his "daughter's innocence and childhood was taken away". McNally's previous convictions include sexual assault at the age of 11, when he and another boy touched a girl’s bottom and threw stones at her. He was sent to a young offenders' institution for a firearms offence in 2011.
The judge in the case said McNally was "very persistent" when trying to get the girl to come to his flat, adding: "There was a clear element of grooming here.".
