FORMER GARDA PAUL Moody was still on dating apps in the days before he was sentenced for the coercive control of his terminally ill partner.
The 42-year-old – who carried out a four-year campaign of harassment, threats, assaults and coercive control of his partner – was last week jailed for three years and three months.
Judge Martin Nolan said that Moody carried out a catalogue of vile and humiliating criminal misbehaviour towards the 43-year-old victim.
New allegations connected with Moody are now being investigated by gardaí after a number of people came forward with allegations against the one-time detective, sources said.
It is understood that some of those allegations are in relation to people he met while dating in Dublin and in Kildare.
The investigation is being led by detectives from a Garda Protective Services Unit who are also being assisted by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The gardaí investigating Moody are understood to be looking at the imprisoned criminal for incidents including a historic allegation.
Dating apps
As a garda he was stationed at Irishtown on Dublin’s southside but he handed in his resignation after his sentencing following an undertaking between his legal counsel and the Director of Public Prosecutions. He had been suspended from duty for over a year.
Moody’s plea of guilty to coercive control was accepted on the basis of full facts in relation to a further 19 counts including harassment, assault causing harm, criminal damage, threats to cause criminal damage, endangerment, theft and threats to kill.
Sources who spoke to The Journal said that Moody was still active on dating apps Bumble and Tinder until late last month.
His profiles on the apps showed pictures of him socialising and dressed in a tuxedo.
His Bumble account listed Celbridge, Kildare as his location and also noted that his interests included “empathy”.
Two sources confirmed that an Instagram account belonging to Moody is active on the app.
Moody joined the gardaí in 2000 but was suspended from duty in March 2021, following a search of his home arising out of the investigation into abuse of his partner.
His coercive control offences came to light when he handed in his phone to gardaí in relation to a false allegation he had made against a relative of his victim.
Gardaí had examined that phone and downloaded messages and other data – it was then that they launched an investigation into Moody himself.
The Journal has requested statements from Tinder and Bumble.
Meta (which owns Instagram), commented: “Women should feel safe everywhere, and we certainly want them to feel safe on our apps. That’s why we don’t allow gender-based hate, misogynistic attacks or any threat of sexual violence on Facebook or Instagram. Women can block people to prevent unwelcome interaction and report content and messages. We’ve also built tools to help prevent women from having to deal with abuse in the first place, like the ability to turn off messages from anyone you don’t know, and filter abusive messages so you never have to see them.”
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