Northern Ireland Woman Fears Groomer Contact After Police Blunder

London, United Kingdom Aug 1, 2026 ALN: A Co Antrim woman was left “paralysed with fear” over a PSNI investigation blunder that saw a ‘thumbs up’ emoji sent to a man she says sexually assaulted her as a teenager.

Molly Kearley said she was “inconsolable” upon being told of the accidental sending of the image in a Facebook messenger conversation that had ended a decade earlier after she says she was assaulted at age 14 by a man six years older than her.

The Lisburn woman, now aged 25 and working as a paralegal, has also questioned delays in the investigation, which began in 2022 when she reported being assaulted in 2015.

Four years later and the case is only now progressing to a complete file being sent to the Public Prosecution Service.

Until this week, she says she had not received any case update in almost a year.

Ms Kearley has doubts over any resolution in her case before her alleged attacker is released from prison in England, where he is understood to be serving a sentence for a separate offence, and fears he could be free to try and contact her before answering for her accusations.

Molly told the Irish News of how she was groomed while a young teenager by the predatory older male who targeted her through social media.

She had access to a smartphone “far too early” at age 12, and used the Facebook app, where she joined groups for players of mobile games.

This was where an older male from England connected with her, and they began private messaging.

“I was a somewhat lonely child whose parents were going through a divorce, so any sort of friend was a friend,” she explained.

“When you’re younger and going through a tough time, you can seek any sort of self-esteem boost, and that’s what this person did for me.”

Molly said the male was either 18 or 19 when they first made contact, initially about gaming, before being groomed into believing they had a closer friendship.

However, he engaged in further inappropriate behaviour, Molly says, including sending a nude image of himself at one stage during the two years they were in contact.

The then-naive teen continued the online friendship, which led to her visiting Manchester twice, accompanied by her grandfather on one trip, and her mother on the second, staying in hotels, and meeting her groomer in person, under the impression he was a close friend.

On the second trip, Molly says she was assaulted when he put his hand up her top when they were alone.

“He was very coercive, and managed to convince me that it was a joke,” she said.

“But a few months later we arranged that he would visit me. That’s when my dad met him for the first time and immediately took a dislike to him, and wasn’t comfortable with him staying in our house.”

The ‘friend’ agreed to stay in a tent in the back yard during his 2015 visit, and it was there she says she was seriously sexually assaulted by him when she was aged 14.

“I was in shock, but didn’t tell anyone. However, my parents caught wind that something wasn’t right with me, and he was asked to leave.”

Years later, after meeting her current partner, she decided in 2022, with his support, to finally contact the PSNI to report her experience as a teen.

Thus began a long drawn-out experience that has yet to conclude four years later, with crucial evidence of Facebook messages only being gathered last summer.

The process of accessing the chat logs led to the blunder for which Molly has been compensated by police, as she is too afraid to switch her phone back on.

She admits there is a “vast amount” of evidence for detectives to wade through, as she spent over two years messaging with the man daily, and police have said there are around 6,000 documents of material to be examined.

Between the start of the probe and now, Molly’s case passed through several investigating officers.

“From the start I was reluctant to hand over my phone after being told it could be held for up to eight months before the examination would be complete,” Molly explained.

“At that time I was working in a minimum wage job and was a full-time carer, so simply couldn’t afford to buy another phone while mine was waiting to be examined.”

Molly was averse to trawling through the messages herself to gather evidence, over fear of being retraumatised, and in March of last year she says a file was sent to the PPS that did not contain relevant messages from the Facebook conversation.

She was told the file was returned so that the messages could be included, and her case’s new investigating officer advised she could hand over her laptop, so messages could be extracted from Facebook that way.

“I thought we could finally get some progress, but then I was told it had to be the phone after all,” Molly said.

“I was then told there is an urgent service in which data can be extracted from phones in just one day. Although I was glad to hear it, I was in disbelief too, as I thought this could have been done years before.”

She handed over the phone in May of last year, but within hours was contacted by police to learn there was still difficulty accessing the groomer’s messages.

Molly allowed police to hold the phone, as she had decided to purchase a cheap used model, so the investigation would not be held up further.

The following month she was contacted to advise that her phone was ready to be collected, without all evidence gathered, and was told of an error that left her “stunned”.

“My investigating officer told me that during the examination, a cyber team employee had accidentally sent a thumbs-up emoji in the chat – not on one of his (the alleged groomer) texts to me, but just a single emoji as its own message in the chat,” she said.

“I was stunned at this, and was told that as the phone was not connected to the internet, that it did not actually send to him, but it can’t be deleted and remains in an ‘unsent’ state, and will send if the phone connects again to Wi-Fi or 4G.”

Molly says she has since been compensated by the PSNI for the device, which she is too afraid to switch back on over fears she will inadvertently contact her groomer.

“I was inconsolable for a while after this happened,” she said.

“I tried to think at first, ok, mistakes happen, but the reality of it hit me.

“I have been paralysed with fear over the thought of him (the alleged groomer) ever seeing that thumbs-up, being reminded of me after all this time, or trying to reach me.”

The chat logs were eventually extracted from her laptop within one day last July, during a visit to her house by a detective. She was told this week the case file is now with the PPS.

Throughout her experience, Molly has approached both the Police Ombudsman’s Office and the PSNI’s Professional Standards department.

“I’m not anti-police at all and they do a very difficult job, with limited resources,” said Molly, who works in the field of family and matrimonial law.

“But this whole experience has impacted my mental health, and I’ve had my faith in the system challenged.

“In my line of work I see other victims of similar crimes, and have steered them towards services that can help. I want them to know they will be adequately helped by police, and for them to be brave enough to come forward, but honestly, I also feel a difficulty in doing so, given what I’ve been through.”

PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Claire Gilbert told the Irish News she acknowledged the “significant impact this investigation has had on the victim and recognise how incredibly difficult it has been for her to wait for progress over such a long period of time”.

“We understand her frustration and appreciate the courage it has taken to continue engaging with the investigative process,” she said.

“This has been an exceptionally large and complex investigation, involving the review of around 6,000 documents and a substantial amount of digital and evidential material that has required careful examination before it could be submitted in an evidential format to the PPS.

“While the complexity of the case has contributed to the length of the investigation, we recognise that this does not lessen the impact of the delays on the victim.

“We also acknowledge that changes in investigating officers during the course of the enquiry, due to resourcing pressures and periods of sickness absence, have understandably added to her concerns and affected her confidence in the process. We regret the additional distress this has caused.”

DCI Gilbert confirmed police have now spoken to Ms Kearley to update her on the case.

“I can confirm that the investigation is progressing with the required documents for the Public Prosecution Service ready for sending and digital analysis of images progressing also,” she said.

“We are committed to treating victims of sexual offences with professionalism, compassion and respect throughout the criminal justice process. We know that investigations of this nature can be lengthy and complex, but we will continue to keep victims informed, explain the reasons for any delays and ensure they are supported throughout.

“We continue to encourage anyone who has experienced a sexual offence to come forward and report it. Our dedicated detectives are committed to carrying out thorough investigations to give every case the best possible opportunity to progress through the criminal justice system.”