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Man jailed over sectarian graffiti in hospital

Pacemaker Press Altnagelvin Hospital can be seen in the background. A woman in a red coat is walking along a path and a black car is seen driving past the hospital Pacemaker Press
Sectarian graffiti was daubed on a wall at Altnagelvin hospital's mother-and-baby feeding room

A man who daubed sectarian graffiti inside Altnagelvin hospital has been jailed for four months after he appealed a suspended sentence.

Darragh McGrath, 19, from Dacre Terrace in Londonderry, was jailed on Monday after Judge Neil Rafferty said while the nine-month suspended sentence was too long, he believed the offence merited an immediate prison term.

"It is audacious to appeal against a suspended sentence but people have the right to do that," Judge Rafferty said.

The court was told that on 12 February 2025 staff at the hospital noticed entry had been forced into the mother-and-baby feeding room and sectarian graffiti had been daubed on one of the walls.

'Entitled to the full protection of the law'

The county court was told that CCTV footage was examined and McGrath was seen to have entered the room.

Judge Rafferty said the sentence previously imposed at Londonderry Magistrates' Court "should not have been suspended" and McGrath had vandalised a mother-and-baby feeding room with sectarian graffiti.

"Places of refuge such as schools and hospitals, places like that, are entitled to the full protection of the law," the judge said.

"Those who commit offences in a hospital setting must expect to go to jail."