Freed rapist tried to groom girls

The court heard Smith was arrested when the girls told their parents

Probation officials have expressed "sympathy" to two schoolgirls who were targeted for grooming by a rapist staying at a bail hostel near Wrexham.

Caernarfon Crown Court heard Patrick Brendon Smith was previously given a 12-year sentence in Ireland for raping a young girl, and other offences.

Smith, 44, had been living at the Plas y Wern bail hostel in Plas Madoc.

He admitted two charges of attempting to facilitate sexual activity with a child and sentence was adjourned.

Smith, also known as Reilly, had changed his plea to guilty and could now face an indeterminate jail term.

Discharging the jury, Judge Merfyn Hughes QC said the defendant admitted arranging a meeting with a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl in January of this year, with a sexual motive.

The court heard Smith met the girls at a house in Acrefair on New Year's Eve and lied to them, telling them he was visiting the area and had a wife and children living in Manchester.

On 4 January, he pulled up his car in the street and spoke to them again.

'Alcohol'

Judge Hughes said: "He asked them if they wanted to go for a spin in his car, they quite wisely said 'no'."

"He offered them alcohol, again they said no."

The court heard how Smith tried to arrange to meet them a week later and offered to give them alcohol in his car.

The girls told their parents and he was arrested.

Smith, who was also known as Patrick Brendon Reilly, initially denied two charges of attempting to facilitate sexual activity with a child.

He changed his plea to guilty at Tuesday's hearing after being told that he would face a maximum prison sentence of up to four-and-a-half years.

Residents on the Plas Madoc estate have previously protested about the hostel near their homes

However, adjourning sentence for reports, the judge said he must still consider whether Smith was an ongoing risk to the public, and could still impose an indeterminate jail term.

Speaking after the hearing, the father of one of the victims said Smith's behaviour had been "disgusting".

He also attacked the decision to house a serial sex offender at a bail hostel in a residential area.

"My daughter has to walk past it all the time, we now have terrible trouble getting her to school," he added.

"I think the place should be shut down."

The hostel has been the focus of a number of high profile protests in recent years amid concerns in the community that sex offenders could be staying there.

Residents have held protests in the past.

A North Wales Probation Area spokesman said: "North Wales Probation Area wishes to express its sympathy and support to the victims of these offences."

The court heard Smith had previously been handed a 12 year sentence for two rapes against a seven-year-old girl in Dublin in 1998.

He also carried out another two sex attacks in Waterford in 2003, one against a 13-year-old girl and one against a woman, 58.

In 2008, three months after moving to Blackpool, Lancashire, he followed and attacked a 13-year-old girl on her paper round, demanding sex and threatening to kill her.

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