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Serial sex predator back on the prowl after prison chiefs give him second chance
Remorseless attacker knocked one woman's teeth out and grabbed another by the genitals
Thomas Ward has been told he's not welcome back to Coalisland
One of Ulster's most dangerous sex predators is back on the prowl after prison chiefs deemed him worthy of a second chance.
Thomas Ward was fast-tracked into a pre-release programme in 2023 but he breached the terms of his release and was thrown back into jail.
In 2011 a judge deemed Ward, who is now aged 37, to be so dangerous he was ordered to serve an indeterminate jail term for a second sick sex attack on a woman.
But five years before that Ward kidnapped a 45-year-old woman and sexually assaulted her and tried to rape her – knocking out her teeth during the savage attack.
We can reveal that remorseless sex attacker Ward is now back on the streets after he was given a second chance at serving the last few months of his sentence in Burren House.
Burren House holds up to 20 prisoners in unlocked cells at a site in the grounds of the old Crumlin Road jail in Belfast and inmates are allowed to leave the unit during the day and even have jobs.
Recently we revealed a list of killers and other life-sentence prisoners who are due to be either released completely or are due to be sent to Burren House – the Northern Ireland Prison Service's 'open prison' unit designed to prepare lifers for permanent release
They include monsters like Stephen 'Bulldog' Scott who hacksawed his pregnant teenage girlfriend Sylvia Fleming after he'd murdered her in 1998, and Andrew Robinson, jailed for life for stabbing his fiancée, Julie-Anne Osborne, nearly 50 times in 2001.
Burren House holds up to 20 prisoners in unlocked cells
Security sources have told the Sunday World they want a review of the process, pointing out how some prisoners have been moved there multiple times despite their rule-breaking while others who are well behaved never get a chance.
Despite his disgusting crimes and rule breaches, Ward has been deemed safe to be set loose on the streets.
As part of his first release programme back in 2023, Ward has been on several UTRs (unaccompanied temporary releases) with family.
He has also been approved access to female relatives despite being a danger to women and being deemed the most high-risk level of sex offender.
'Here's another one who has breached the rules and been sent back but is getting another chance,' said a prison insider.
'He's a thug too – he was notorious for picking on other inmates and beating them up. He was even done for attacking a prison officer ten years ago so it's not like he's been a model prisoner.
'It's another example of someone getting preferential treatment for some reason while other prisoners who do behave never get a chance.'
When he was first listed for release to Burren two years ago, members of the Traveller community, of which Thomas Ward belongs, made it clear he wasn't welcome back in Coalisland where he had lived before.
In February 2011, Ward followed and attacked a woman as she jogged through Cookstown in a terrifying repeat offence.
After grabbing the woman by her genitals, he then chased her down the street. The shocking incident – caught on CCTV – happened in broad daylight and police caught him shortly afterwards in a Tesco car park.
The woman told police she only escaped his attack when she fled into a house.
Judge David McFarland ordered that Ward serve an indeterminate prison sentence with a minimum of two years and only to be released when he is no longer thought to pose a risk of reoffending.
But the husband of his first victim – who Ward tried to rape in 2006 – told us there should never have been a second.
Thomas Ward has been told he's not welcome back to Coalisland
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Ward had already served two years of a five-year sentence for another serious sex attack in 2006 before he was released into the public again as a Category Three offender – the most dangerous on the scale.
In 2010 the husband of that victim told the Sunday World that Ward would strike again and should never have been released. Speaking at the time, the man said: 'That animal will attack another woman I have no doubt about it.'
As it turned out he did strike again and appeared in court just a few days after our article appeared when he attacked the female jogger in Cookstown.
'Ward should never have been out free to attack this poor woman,' said the man, who asked not to be identified to protect his wife.
'This time they should lock him up and throw away the key – he's an animal. He wrecked my wife's life and all he served was two-and-a-half years of a five-year jail sentence.'
Ward assaulted the man's wife after he had kidnapped her in Coalisland. He held the 45-year-old woman against her will and knocked out her teeth during the savage attack.
As well as sexual assault, Ward was also convicted of kidnapping and causing his victim actual bodily harm.
The attack only ended when his victim wrapped her handbag around her fist and hit him before biting his fingers.
She then ran in the dark through a wooded area and managed to flag down a passing female motorist.
