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John Gaile
A perverted publican, who once came crying to the Sunday World, has been jailed for abusing a 16-year-old schoolgirl.
John Gaile, who owns Cooley’s pub in Magilligan, was jailed for 30 months after he pleaded guilty to two counts of sex abuse over a two year period.
But he’ll only serve six months in prison with the other two years being served on licence.
Gaile is well known to police and was also convicted in June of masterminding an elaborate £1.5m mortgage fraud scam.
Despite facing two serious trials the arrogant pub landlord approached the Sunday World last year to complain that he was being victimised by the police.
Even though he knew he was facing a jail sentence for sexually abusing the young teenager he posed for pictures for our photographer as he whined about the PSNI “picking on him”.
The Sunday World can reveal the 51-year-old had been forced to close his bar for a month after he was convicted of having late night ‘lock-ins’.
Gaile, of Ballymadigan Terrace in Castlerock, even accused the police of trying to “put him out of business”.
But last Friday Gaile appeared in Londonderry Crown Court where he was sent to jail and ordered to adhere to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order when he gets out of jail.
Two other related charges have been left on the court books.
Last January, in another court, a judge ordered him to close the doors of his boozer after cops swooped on the bar and found people drinking well after hours.
Sources say Gaile has a notorious reputation.
“He’s a scumbag,” said a woman who knows him.
“We couldn’t believe he went crying to the papers complaining about the police when he was facing charges like these.”
Gaile, who’s owned the bar for nine years, complained to us that the PSNI had been “picking” on him – a claim the PSNI strenuously denied.
“The police in Limavady are down on me, that’s for sure, and I have no idea why,” said Gaile back in January.
“I just don’t trust them. It starts every year at around Easter, that’s when they start making life difficult.
“They have it in for me and are going to put me out of business if it carries on.
“They are constantly checking out my bar, driving in and out of the car park while other bars get left alone.
“There are bars all over Northern Ireland who are much worse but they don’t seem to ever end up in court.
“I wasn’t even in the bar at the time – I was home in bed – but they still fined me £500.”
And he even dared to claim he’d never given the police “any trouble”.
“The thing is I’ve been running this bar for nine years now and never given the police any trouble,” he said.
“In the whole time I’ve been here we have only ever called the police out twice and anytime there has been an incident I’ve immediately offered them the CCTV. I run a good bar and provide a service for tourists and locals alike.”
Last month details of his conviction for a massive mortgage fraud scam were released publicly even though he had actually been convicted back in June.
Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said that the scam was operated from 1995 to 2008.
Those convicted were: John Gaile, 52; John Hickey, 56; William Larmour, 63; Paul Gaile, 50; Lena Gaile, 49; Lee Paul Gaile, 29; and Kieran Gaile, 30.
The seven crooks pleaded guilty to a total of 76 charges including mortgage fraud and acquiring criminal property.
The police said that John Gaile set up the scam with members of his family and Hickey, a solicitor based in Coleraine, Co. Derry.
The scam involved applying for mortgages using inflated purchase prices.
The majority of the mortgages were obtained using the services of Larmour, an independent financial advisor in Holywood, Co. Down.
The police said that from September 1995 until April 2008, Gaile sold the properties, sometimes either to family members or Hickey.
He then took the profits from the sale or used it to fund another property.
The police added that financial investigators calculated the total value of the mortgages, subject to pleas entered in court, was over £1.5m.
steven.moore@nth.sundayworld.com