Gardai in Co Donegal have confirmed that a child rapist and his associate have registered as staying in the area.
Child rapist James White, 48, and his sicko pal Jason Lydiard, 26, are now two of the most wanted men in Ireland after they were accused of targeting kids in Newcastle West, Co Limerick, and Bandon in Co Cork.
Gardai issued a nationwide warning about the pair in recent days.
Now Donegal Daily can confirm the pair are staying in Donegal after they were spotted this morning in Letterkenny.
Worried parents spotted the men close to where a children’s event was taking place and immediately contacted Gardai.
Gardai confirmed the pair had today registered with them.
One woman said she spotted the pair shopping in Argos in Letterkenny before walking away.
She said “People need to know that this pair are out there in Donegal and living amongst us. Parents of children have a right to know so that they can keep their children safe.”
Gardai have intelligence that the duo — both originally from the North and considered “high-risk sex offenders” — have been approaching children as part of a depraved double act.
Although the pair served time in the North, they are still required to inform gardai of their whereabouts here.
James White
Gusto
A Garda bulletin was sent to every station in the country to warn officers to be on the lookout for the pair.
And Lydiard — who also uses the name Alexis Guesto and considers himself a Born-Again Christian — is also suspected of using a fake social media profile as part of his plans to identify potential victims.
Investigators believe the pair became friends after Lydiard, originally from Co Down, was freed from custody in the North earlier this year.
He had finished a seven-month sentence for ignoring a court order banning him from online dating sites.
Although he has nine previous convictions for sexual assault, assaults causing harm and threats to kill, White is considered to be the more dangerous.
Smiuth, who is originally from south Armagh, he was jailed here in 1998 for horrific attacks — two counts of buggery and five charges of sexual assault — on a teenage boy in Co Meath. He was freed in 2003.
He once threatened to kill a social worker with a hammer, has 62 previous convictions in all, including sexual assault, assault causing bodily harm and threats to kill.
After completing his sentence here, he returned to the North in 2006 and was living in different areas across the border.
Although the PSNI had been aware of his whereabouts, he disappeared for a year in 2015 despite being on a Sexual Offences Prevention Order — which demands he maintain contact with the police.
