A man charged with breaching a court order which banned him from visiting Ireland for 20 years has been found unfit to plead at this time.
BY OLIVIA KELLEHER
Matthew Notman of Laburnam House, Laburnam Avenue, Kirkby in Nottingham, England, appeared before a sitting of Skibbereen District Court in January, following an alleged breach of an order made at Cork Circuit Criminal Court in 2022.
The order was that Mr Notman was prohibited from communicating directly, or indirectly, with a woman living in West Cork.
He was also ordered to stay out of Ireland for two decades.
Mr Notman allegedly came to Ireland by ferry on November 10th, 2024 and communicated with the woman on Facebook Messenger on November 13th and 14th, 2024.
Defence counsel told the court that Mr Notman was admitted to the Central Mental Hospital earlier this year following an acute psychotic episode characterised by delusions where he was of the belief that he was the ‘King of Ireland’ returning to make the woman ‘the Queen of Ireland’.
A psychiatric report states that Mr Notman, who is in his 30s, is making ‘slow but steady improvement’.
His barrister said that her client intends to enter a guilty plea.
Judge Helen Boyle was told that the Director of Public Prosecutions accepts the findings of the report from the hospital.
Judge Boyle said that she was satisfied that ‘at the moment he (Notman) is not fit to plead’, adding that he had a long history of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
She said: ‘He has had a long-established history of major mental illness since the age of 21.
An updated report will be furnished to the court on July 15th next.
Mr Notman will continue to receive treatment at the Central Mental Hospital until that date.
