Latest news with #NicolaTallant
Irish Independent
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Electric Picnic: Miriam O'Callaghan, Rosie O'Donnell and Nicola Tallant among those added to festival line-up for ‘Mindfield' stages
The 'arena of ideas' at Ireland's largest festival hosts, podcasting and comedy, will also feature Dara Ó Briain, David McWilliams and Nicola Tallant. The David McWilliams Podcast and Miriam O'Callaghan's Picnic Brunch will be on the line-up, alongside legendary music producer William Orbit in conversation, Róisín Ingle's The Women's Podcast and Nicola Tallant's Cocaine Cowboys. The six stages, which include Leviathan: Political Cabaret, Manifesto, Ah, Hear Podcast, The Theatre, The Word and An Puball Gaeilge, will host debating, podcasting, poetry and music throughout the weekend. Current affairs will be covered by The Group Chat from Virgin Media News, with Deirdre O'Kane and Emma Doran's Keep it Tight also on the line-up with Jenny Keane's Orgasm. In the hugely popular Seed Talks series, there will be talks on The History of Witchcraft with Lora O'Brien, the Science of Psychedelics with Dr David Luke and the Science of Intergenerational Trauma with Dr Jane Mulcahy. Other events on the programme include speed debating, a talk on the legacy of Éamon de Valera, a performance by Professor Luke O'Neill and his band The Metabollix and a voter registration drive by An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Ireland's Electoral Commission. The Ah, Hear Podcast stage brings Unscripted with Niamh O'Connor, Guide to Parenting, Nicola Tallant's Cocaine Cowboys, Off The Ball and A Few Scoops hosted by Colm O'Regan and Aoife Grace Moore. Baleia Baleia Baleia from Portugal will be performing, along with musical acts like bbft, Scally and the Ballyboyz, Dimplestillskin and The Cranberries tribute act Zombie. Headliners like Hozier, Chappell Roan and Fatboy Slim are already on the festival line-up, with the largest festival in the country, which already sold out months in advance, taking place in Stradbally, Co Laois, from August 29 to 31. Top international acts like Becky Hill, Confidence Man, The Kooks and Lord Huron have been added to the line-up, while Eurovision fans who rated Estonia's entry 'Espresso Macchiato' will be able to see Tommy Cash on stage this summer, joined by last year's Dutch entry Joost. Other acts who will be taking to the stage include Conan Gray and Irish stars like Amble, Kingfishr, Bell X1, Maverick Sabre, The Academic and Aaron Rowe. Around 80,000 people are expected to descend on the 600-acre Stradbally Estate this summer, with a new wave of acts like Suki Waterhouse, Biig Piig, Maribou State, Montell and Barry Can't Swim to join them. Tickets for the 2025 festival completely sold out last August, just days after the 2024 event which featured Kylie Minogue, Noah Kahan, Calvin Harris, The Wolfe Tones, who drew a record-breaking crowd to the Electric Tent the year prior, and Kneecap.
Irish Times
11-07-2025
- Irish Times
Rapist who harassed three women journalists is to spend longer in prison
A convicted rapist handed an 11-year sentence last month for harassing three journalists has been told he will spend an extra 10 months in prison. Mark McAnaw (53), previously of Letterkenny, Co Donegal, was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Friday for breaching the conditions of a suspended sentence. He pleaded guilty last month to harassing three journalists – Nicola Tallant, Amanda Brunker and Deirdre Reynolds – in August 2023. At that time McAnaw was under the suspended portion of a sentence for an aggravated burglary committed in 2018. READ MORE In June 2023 McAnaw received a sentence of eight years and four months, backdated to when he went into custody in 2018, for the aggravated burglary. The final 16 months of the sentence was suspended for 16 years on strict conditions. He was released from custody on that sentence in July 2023, several weeks before the harassment of the three journalists took place. On Friday he was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for a hearing in relation to the activation of the suspended portion of the sentence for aggravated burglary. Judge Martin Nolan was told the application to reactivate the suspended portion of the sentence had been triggered by McAnaw breaching the conditions of the suspension. These were his convictions for the harassment of the three journalists and a separate District Court conviction for a breach of the Sex Offenders' Act. Rebecca Smith, defending McAnaw, said her client was homeless following his release from custody and had struggled to access medication he had been on. McAnaw also found it difficult to abide by the conditions imposed, she said. The judge said he could activate none, all or part of the suspended portion of the 2023 sentence, which would run consecutive to the 11-year sentence imposed on McAnaw last month. He said McAnaw had committed 'rather serious offences' following his release from custody in 2023, which had already been dealt with by another judge. Judge Nolan reactivated 10 months of the 16 months suspended portion of the 2023 sentence and directed it to run consecutively to the 11-year sentence McAnaw is serving. Last month Judge Pauline Codd handed McAnaw an 11-year sentence for the harassment of Ms Tallant, Ms Brunker and Ms Reynolds. The court heard McAnaw repeatedly sent the three women emails and messages of a violent and sexually threatening nature, which escalated to him threatening to put a 'bullet' in one of them. He also referred to himself as an 'IRA Top Boy'. He also turned up at the offices of the Sunday World on Talbot Street, Dublin, and when refused entry he went to a cafe across the road. When gardaí approached him there, McAnaw was writing an email to Ms Tallant. McAnaw is detained at the Central Mental Hospital (CMH), but does not accept his diagnosis of schizophrenia and has declined to take medication, the court was told. His previous convictions include rape, kidnapping and assaults causing actual bodily harm. McAnaw refused to enter a bond before the court last month, which would have suspended the final 12 months of the 11-year sentence imposed.
Sunday World
10-06-2025
- Sunday World
Deirdre Reynolds: I believe my stalker had a 'rape or kill' list of women in Irish media
SPEAKING UP | Under cross examination, I was asked if being threatened with rape or murder was not just 'part and parcel' of my high-profile job. Typically penned in green, by an author appropriately mad as a box of frogs, over the course of almost two decades writing for national tabloid newspapers, it's fair to say I've had one or two – though none to rival the well-known travel writer who once received human faeces gift-wrapped in one of their articles, in a large brown envelope with address crazily scrawled in, what else, but green ink. Among fellow hacks, we laugh about this so-called 'fan mail', which now more typically comes in the form of emails or Facebook or Instagram DMs. August 14, 2023, was the day I stopped laughing. Mark McAnaw first addressed me as a 'proper little sort' whom he wanted to 'see in various styles of sexy underwear while wearing heels' and 'give a really, really, really good seeing to'. Amanda Brunker and Deirdre Reynolds Just days later, when I hadn't agreed to 'a f*cking basic thing like a normal phone call', so that he could 'get this on the go on a regular basis', the 53 year-old British man was promising to come to Dublin 'armed to the teeth' on a specific date to 'put a bullet in [my] f*cking nut'. On Thursday, the 'IRA Top Boy' and 'most powerful god there ever was', as he also referred to himself in the string of frightening mails that followed, was reduced to anything but, as he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for harassing me, Nicola Tallant and Amanda Brunker. Sitting in the back of Court 10 at the Criminal Courts of Justice, I couldn't help but eject a couple of quiet tears of relief, partly for myself, but also for every other woman out there who's ever faked a phone call to their sister while walking back to their car after dark or kept a tiny body spray in their handbag for more than just freshening up while out and about. As he stood up to whisper with his defence team, spruced up for the day that was in it in a freshly-ironed white shirt and navy bomber jacket, mostly though, I was thinking of the young foreign student, who was just 19 at the time he raped her at a house in Donegal in 2010, and how she had resisted so strongly that the radiator had been pulled from her bedroom wall; while selfishly glad he'll never get the chance to do the same to me as he'd schemed. Amid all the legalese, I didn't even realise that the schizophrenic, whose 30-plus year history of the most stomach-turning violence against women also includes kidnap, had just volunteered to spend an extra year locked up rather than seek medical help, among other bond conditions. Nicola Tallant When Judge Pauline Codd praised us for remaining 'calmly courageous' throughout the near two-year case, which began with me casually giving a statement to a detective in an office at work, I didn't have the heart to tell her how my knees had damn near buckled the first time I had to walk right past him to take the stand. Or how it had been pounding so furiously coming up to other court dates that it took an ECG, cardiac MRI, and several hundred euro to confirm that the tightly-wound knot in my chest was just the panic of breaking one of the golden rules of journalism, by becoming the story. 'I'm glad he's not on the streets', says victim as convicted rapist who threatened 3 female journalists is jailed' – announced just one of the many headlines about the case on Friday. Victim? Surely, they didn't mean me? But, surreally, they did, and as the 'Fair play, missus' messages from everyone from colleagues to cousins to old school friends started trickling in, I also didn't reply how if I'd known from the beginning that I'd wind up like the proverbial deer in headlights on RTÉ's Six-One News or Morning Ireland, I might simply have dragged McAnaw's messages into the trash folder, where they belonged, said nothing, and hoped for the best. Mark McAnaw was jailed for 11 years News in 90 Seconds - Tuesday June 10 The 'danger to [the] public', as Judge Codd called him on Thursday, didn't really give me that option, however, when he told me he had '30 girls on [his] list' – among them 'all the 2FM girls' – whom he would 'keep emailing' if I didn't 'start replying to [his] messages'. 'What happens to you lot now is firmly in your court,' he chillingly warned me. It was my strong belief then, and remains so now, that McAnaw, just like Englishman Gavin Plumb, who was jailed for plotting to kidnap and murder Holly Willoughby last year, has a fantasy 'rape or kill' list of women in Irish media. In speaking up, I can only cross my fingers that I haven't jumped straight to the top of it should he ever be free to torment us again. Under cross examination, I was asked if being threatened with rape or murder was not just 'part and parcel' of my high-profile job. Read more One last time with feeling: it's not. Nor should it be. Now imagine how the woman who mailed me in recent days to say how she'd been asked by a female Garda if she found her stalker 'attractive', or the countless rape survivors who've been quizzed about their underwear choices or alcohol consumption in a system more usually weighted in favour of perpetrators than victims must feel. Deemed 'untreatable' by a forensic psychiatrist, as well as being at 'highest risk' for re-offending, McAnaw has been ordered to stay at least 10 miles away from me for the rest of his life. As my heart rate slowly returns to normal, moreover, let's hope he never gets anywhere near any woman or girl ever again.
Irish Times
05-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Rapist who threatened three Sunday World journalists jailed for 11 years
A convicted rapist who threatened and harassed three female Sunday World journalists has been jailed for 11 years. Mark McAnaw (53) refused to enter a bond before a sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court which would have suspended the final 12 months of the 11-year sentence imposed for the harassment of Nicola Tallant, Amanda Brunker and Deirdre Reynolds. After Judge Pauline Codd had outlined the conditions attached to the suspended portion of the sentence on Thursday, McAnaw's counsel Rebecca Smith said her client did not wish to enter the bond as he found the conditions 'onerous'. As a result, the judge imposed the full 11-year sentence. Judge Codd also ordered that McAnaw should have no contact either directly or indirectly with the women, should not approach them, go within 10 miles of their homes and workplaces or communicate with them for life. READ MORE McAnaw, previously of Letterkenny, Co Donegal, pleaded guilty to the harassment of the three women on various dates in August 2023. The court heard McAnaw repeatedly sent them emails and messages of a violent and sexually threatening nature, which escalated to him threatening to put a 'bullet' in one of them. He also referred to himself as an 'IRA Top Boy'. He also turned up at the offices of the Sunday World on Talbot Street in Dublin and, when refused entry, he went to a cafe across the road. When gardaí approached him there, McAnaw was in the process of writing an email to Ms Tallant. McAnaw is detained in the Central Mental Hospital (CMH). McAnaw does not accept his diagnosis of schizophrenia and has declined to take medication, the court was told. His previous convictions include the rape of a foreign student in Donegal in October 2010, for which he was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2012. McAnaw also has a 1989 conviction for kidnapping and convictions for assaults causing actual bodily harm from a court in Northern Ireland in 2011. He also has a conviction for aggravated assault after attacking a woman in her home in April 2018, for which he received a sentence of eight years and four months in June 2023. This sentence was backdated to 2018 when he went into custody, with the final 16 months suspended for 16 years on strict conditions. McAnaw was released from custody on this sentence in July 2023 – one month before the harassment of the three journalists took place. Ms Smith said her client instructs that he found it difficult to abide by the conditions attached to the suspended portion of the sentence imposed in 2023. A handwritten letter from McAnaw was also handed to the court, which Judge Codd described as 'concerning'. Judge Codd outlined a global sentence of 11 years, with the final 12 months to be suspended on strict conditions for five years. These included that McAnaw remain under probation supervision for five years, comply with his medical regime, refrain from the use of illicit substances and make available any internet-enabled devices when requested by gardaí. The judge backdated the sentence to August 2023, when McAnaw went into custody. Ms Brunker and Ms Reynolds were present in court when the sentence was imposed. Judge Codd commended the three women for their resilience and courage throughout the process and wished them well for the future.
BreakingNews.ie
05-06-2025
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
Convicted rapist who harassed three female journalists jailed for 11 years
A convicted rapist who threatened and harassed three female Sunday World journalists has been jailed for 11 years. Mark McAnaw (53) refused to enter a bond before a sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court which would have suspended the final 12 months of the 11-year sentence imposed for the harassment of Nicola Tallant, Amanda Brunker and Deirdre Reynolds. Advertisement After Judge Pauline Codd had outlined the conditions attached to the suspended portion of the sentence on Thursday, McAnaw's counsel Rebecca Smith BL said her client did not wish to enter the bond as he found the conditions 'onerous'. As a result, the judge imposed the full 11-year sentence. Judge Codd also ordered that McAnaw should have no contact either directly or indirectly with the women, should not approach them, go within 10 miles of their homes and workplaces or communicate with them for life. McAnaw, previously of Letterkenny, Co Donegal, pleaded guilty to the harassment of Ms Tallant, Ms Brunker and Ms Reynolds on various dates in August 2023. The court heard McAnaw repeatedly sent the three women emails and messages of a violent and sexually threatening nature, which escalated to him threatening to put a 'bullet' in one of them. He also referred to himself as an 'IRA Top Boy'. Advertisement He also turned up at the offices of the Sunday World on Talbot Street and, when refused entry, he went to a cafe across the road. When gardaí approached him there, McAnaw was in the process of writing an email to Ms Tallant. McAnaw is currently detained in the Central Mental Hospital (CMH). McAnaw does not accept his diagnosis of schizophrenia and has declined to take medication, the court was told. His previous convictions include the rape of a foreign student in Donegal in October 2010, for which he was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2012. McAnaw also has a 1989 conviction for kidnapping and convictions for assaults causing actual bodily harm from a court in Northern Ireland in 2011. Advertisement He also has a conviction for aggravated assault after attacking a woman in her home in April 2018, for which he received a sentence of eight years and four months in June 2023. This sentence was backdated to 2018 when he went into custody, with the final 16 months suspended for 16 years on strict conditions. McAnaw was released from custody on this sentence in July 2023 – one month before the harassment of the three journalists took place. Ms Smith said her client instructs that he found it difficult to abide by the conditions attached to the suspended portion of the sentence imposed in 2023. A handwritten letter from McAnaw was also handed to the court, which Judge Codd described as 'concerning'. Advertisement Judge Codd noted that social media and online communication makes it easier to target journalists and others in public facing roles. The judge noted women in the public eye are often targeted online and subjected to 'base and lewd threats and comments', which accelerated with the advent of social media. Judge Codd said it is important that 'in a democracy, free speech and freedom of press must be rightly defended' and an aggravating feature of the case was the targeting of female journalists with 'threats of a highly graphic nature'. The judge said general deterrence was necessary and that the 'message goes out' that there are criminal laws which can and will be enforced. Advertisement She said it was aggravating that McAnaw harassed the women in the context of their work, which potentially impacted their constitutional rights to earn a living and bodily integrity. Judge Codd said the court also had to consider the issue of protection of the public, given McAnaw's history of violent offending, the evidence of his failure to follow medical advice and his consumption of illicit substances, including cannabis. The judge said the need to protect the public 'can't be an end in itself', adding that preventative detention is not permitted by law in Ireland. But Judge Codd said the protection of society was a factor alongside other sentencing principles that the court could have regard to when constructing a proportionate sentence. She added that the fact that 'an offender is a danger to public, which is borne out by evidence, can justify a sentence towards the higher end of the scale'. The judge noted McAnaw's mental health difficulties and that he declines to take anti-psychotic medication 'reserved for most serious cases of schizophrenia'. The judge said McAnaw also has a history of substance misuse and inconsistent past engagement with community mental health services. The judge said McAnaw is assessed at high risk of violent and sexual re-offending. She said the court would give no discount on the headline sentence for his mental health issues, as he had contributed to them by declining to follow medical advice and by taking illicit substances. Judge Codd said the escalating nature of the messages sent was aggravating and, in relation to Ms Reynolds, these included a threat to kill. The judge said while the offences occurred over a short period of time, this had less weight due to McAnaw's status as a violent offender, which would have exacerbated the concern felt by the injured parties. Judge Codd noted the mitigation including McAnaw's guilty pleas and his background. She outlined a global sentence of 11 years, with the final 12 months to be suspended on strict conditions for five years. These included that McAnaw remain under probation supervision for five years, comply with his medical regime, refrain from the use of illicit substances and make available any internet-enabled devices when requested by gardai. The judge backdated the sentence to August 2023, when McAnaw went into custody. Ireland Man jailed for sexual assaults at Lough Derg pilgr... Read More Ms Brunker and Ms Reynolds were both present in court when the sentence was imposed. Probation and forensic psychological reports were handed to the court. Ms Smith told the court her client does not accept the diagnosis of a mental illness and has remained drug-free since entering the CMH in October 2023. Judge Codd commended the three women for their resilience and courage throughout the process and wished them well for the future. She directed McAnaw to appear at a sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court later this month in relation to the breach of conditions imposed as part of a suspended sentence.
