Ex-DUP mayor Thomas Hogg given suspended sentence for child sexual offence

By The Newsroom
Published 12th Mar 2021, 13:34 BST
Updated 12th Mar 2021, 13:47 BST
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A former Democratic Unionist Party mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council convicted of inciting a teenage boy to take part in sexual activity at a function has been given a three-month suspended prison sentence.

Thomas Hogg was also put on the sex offenders’ register for seven years and ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to the victim who rejected his drink-fuelled advances.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard the child sex offence has left the 32-year-old’s political career in ruins and jeopardised his new financial career in the city of London.

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Defence counsel Mark Farrell said: “It was a moment of madness which will have catastrophic consequences for Mr Hogg.”

Former DUP councillor Thomas Hogg at an earlier appearance at Laganside Court. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Former DUP councillor Thomas Hogg at an earlier appearance at Laganside Court. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Former DUP councillor Thomas Hogg at an earlier appearance at Laganside Court. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker