A SINGLE mum duped into a four month relationship with one of Ulster’s most dangerous sex offenders says she believes the predator has targeted more females.

The Belfast woman fears sex offender Michael Dynes (41) had multiple relationships with women who, like her, had no idea about his sordid past.

Last month Dynes – who has multiple convictions for child sex crimes – was handed six months probation after he admitted to a judge he stayed overnight at the woman’s home without permission from authorities.

Dynes, originally from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, also failed to declare the intimate relationship between August and December, to a designated risk manager.

He spun a web of lies to the caring mum, making her believe that she’d finally found her “Prince Charming”.

Today she breaks her silence in the hope that by sharing her shocking story other women will not fall into dangerous Dynes’ trap.

Emma, whose name we have changed to protect her identity, told Independent.ie: “I honestly believe there are more women out there who may still not have a clue they have dated a sex offender.

“I am one of the most clued in people who is very cautious, takes no risks – especially with online dating. I am like the FBI. I did everything that I was supposed to do, and still he fooled me.

“And if he can fool me, he can fool anyone.”

It was revealed last month that Dynes was hauled before a judge over breaching the terms of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO).

The order had been placed on him in 2017 after he pleaded guilty to over 40 offences ranging from making and possessing indecent images of children, inciting them to engage in a sexual act and multiple charges of voyeurism.

He was caught following one of the National Crime Agency’s first major child sex exploitation investigations in Northern Ireland.

He was convicted of breaching the SOPO at Magherafelt Magistrates Court where a judge deemed him as posing a “dangerous risk” to the public.

The court previously heard how the predator hid his real identity from a woman after meeting her on an internet dating website.

The mum-of-two only discovered his sick and shocking past after a member of the public left an anonymous note on her car.

She bravely confronted Dynes, who denied three times he was the man named in multiple newspaper reports.

Thankfully her gut instinct kicked in and she contacted police who confirmed her worst fears – she’d been dating a convicted sex offender.

Said Emma: “Even when the police sat on my sofa and told me it was him, I still did not want to believe it was him.

“How can you wrap you head around that the man you had been seeing for months, the kind, charming, down to earth genuine person, the man you loved, is a sex offender who committed these heinous crimes?

“When we met he told me his name was Phil, and even though I now know his real identity I still refer to him as Phil because I can’t put the two people together.

“The Michael Dynes I have read about was not the person who I was with.”

Emma, who is in her 30s, started speaking to Dynes on popular dating site Plenty of Fish in August.

They spoke for weeks, enjoying hours on the phone before arranging to meet face-to-face the next month.

“It was September 2 and we met at the Hilton in Templepatrick, which was halfway for both of us as he was living in Magherafelt at the time. And we just clicked,” she recalled.

“We talked about anything and everything.

“We didn’t want to leave to be honest, it was just one of those dates that was going really well.

“After the meal we had a kiss and he asked me out on a second date.

“That whole week we chatted. He made plans that he was going to cook for me on the Friday at his house.

“I felt so comfortable, that I could tell him anything and that he was telling me everything.”

After the second date, the relationship between Dynes and the young mum flourished.

“On the days when I didn’t have the kids either I went up to him or he came up to me,” she said. 

“I remember thinking how it was feeling more and more like a proper relationship and how happy I was.”

It was in December when Emma’s world came crashing down.

She had just spent a night at Dynes’ Co Derry home and had travelled back to Belfast to spend time with her children.

A couple of days later she noticed a sticker had been placed on the back windscreen of her car.

It was a link to an online article detailing a sex offender ‘profile’ in the name of Michael Dynes.

After sharing an image of the strange sticker with friends she contacted her boyfriend.

“I text him and asked, ‘do you know someone called Michael Dynes from Dungannon?’

“He said, ‘I do, I have a cousin though there are a few around there. Why do you ask?’

“I sent him a picture of the sticker and said I just found this on my car.

Emma said that Dynes told her he would talk about his sex offender relative when they met up the following week.

However, she decided to do her own investigations.

Within 24 hours she was told the man she’d fallen for was a convicted pervert. He was later arrested.

The shock discovery hit the young mum like a tonne of bricks.

In a victim impact statement read by District Judge Oonagh Mullan, Emma described the crushing impact of Dynes’ devious actions.

“I feel I was groomed and manipulated by someone for their own gratification with no regard to those they could hurt or destroy,” she wrote.

“My trust in everyone, including close friends, is completely gone,” she wrote.

“I feel embarrassed and ashamed by what has happened and how I was duped, I also feel stupid.

The mum-of-two, who is receiving counselling, also had to be placed on anti-anxiety medication.

Emma has also been tortured by mixed emotions over the ordeal.

“I do feel sorry for him, and I can’t believe I am saying that,” she said. “I want to believe there is a good person in there.

“Yes he’s a disgusting, despicable person for what he did, but I don’t know that person, that’s not the Phil I knew.

“When I was in his company he treated me like a princess. Yes he was lying and deceitful, but I only realised that after I found out who he really was.”

Emma says she now believes the predator had been seeing other women during the course of their relationship.

“Another lie he told me was that he had his kids every Wednesday and every other weekend.

“There were nights he even cancelled with me because he said his ex-wife had asked him to look after the kids.

“But I discovered he hasn’t seen his children in years. So where was he and what was he doing on those nights?”

She added: “I don’t think I was the only girl but unfortunately I am the only girl who knows the truth.”

Offering advice to women who are currently online dating, Emma said: “He was a master manipulator, so it is hard to say what I could have done differently to avoid meeting someone like him.

“But one alarm bell for me now is that if you can’t find any trace of someone on social media or the internet, it should ring alarm bells.

“I think the most important thing is, to trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, it usually isn’t.”

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