'Women shouldn’t have to live in fear going to work': Violent rapist gets 11 years for harassment and threats to three journalists

Mark McAnaw, a man with extensive convictions for rape and violent offences, has been sentenced to eleven years imprisonment at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for harassing three female journalists employed by the Sunday World. The 52-year-old, formerly resident in Letterkenny, County Donegal, pleaded guilty to harassment charges relating to a campaign of contact that escalated throughout August 2023. The court heard that McAnaw sent explicit and threatening emails to the three women and attended their workplace. The messages included threats to kill. The recipients reported experiencing severe psychological distress, with one describing constant fear and another stating she felt physically ill upon discovering his criminal history. Judge Pauline Codd imposed the full custodial term after McAnaw declined to accept conditions that would have suspended the final twelve months of the sentence. She imposed a lifelong contact prohibition order and exclusion requirements keeping him at least ten miles from the women's homes and workplaces. In her remarks, the judge noted McAnaw's history of violent sexual offending, including a previous rape conviction in County Donegal and sentences for armed home invasion and aggravated burglary. She also highlighted his failure to engage with mental health treatment whilst detained at the Central Mental Hospital and clinical assessments identifying him as presenting high risk of violent and sexual reoffending. The case follows McAnaw's earlier conviction in June 2023 for aggravated burglary, when he received eight years and four months imprisonment, with the final sixteen months suspended. His broader criminal record extends to a nine-year sentence imposed in 2012 for sexual assault and a 1989 conviction for kidnapping. The sentencing reflects judicial concern regarding the targeting of professional women in their workplace and the cumulative impact of sustained harassment campaigns on victims' wellbeing and sense of safety.