A silent sex offender was ruled by a jury to be ‘faking’ muteness.

Jason McDonagh remained tight-lipped in the dock at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday (February 14), as the foreman pronounced the jury’s verdict that the 36-year-old was ‘mute of malice’ rather than ‘by visitation of God’.

The centuries-old process sees a jury, rather than a judge, decide whether a defendant cannot speak for some medical reason – a ‘visitation of God’ – or because they have chosen to remain silent.

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During the two-hour hearing on Tuesday morning, the court heard how McDonagh had come to police attention last spring as he was sleeping rough by the alleyway between Bury Knowle Park and the Waitrose supermarket in Headington.

Oxford Mail: Bury Knowle Park Bury Knowle Park

A police officer, Sarah Magro, described various visits she made to speak to the homeless man between July and August.

He would not give his name, saying they could call him ‘a******e’, but spoke to the officers – although generally in monosyllables.

He spoke with an 'Irish' accent, it was said.

The man would pull down his beanie hat and turn away from them, Ms Magro told jurors. He told them he did not want any help.

McDonagh was later taken to the Phoenix psychiatric ward at Littlemore hospital, where his identity was established.

Checks on police computer systems confirmed he was a registered sex offender and wanted by the Metropolitan Police for allegedly breaching requirements that he notify the authorities about where he was living.

PC Thomas Reeves, a member of Thames Valley Police’s public protection unit, told the jury he met the defendant at the hospital ward on his discharge from the unit on September 1.

He tried to engage McDonagh in conversation during the van ride to Abingdon police station without much success.

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But Mr Reeves confirmed that the defendant had spoken during the booking-in process at the police station, including asking why he had to stand on a ‘crash mat’ and, later, a plastic step to be checked using a metal detector ‘wand’.

A third witness, prison officer Jake Green, said McDonagh had also spoken during a ‘welfare check’ conducted as he was booked-in at Bullingdon prison on September 2.

He had, however, responded to the questions with yes or no answers, he said. “It was a very quick interview.”

McDonagh, of no fixed address, made no audible response to Judge Nigel Daly asking whether he wished to question the witnesses. He generally shook his head, but could also be seen to purse his lips.

At the start of the hearing, Judge Daly explained the antiquated procedure to the jury.

“I have been practising in the crown court either as an advocate or as a judge for over 40 years and I have never come across this before," he said.

The judge added: “The burden is on the prosecution to prove that he is mute of malice. They will only succeed in proving it if you are sure on the evidence that you will hear that he is mute of malice.

“Otherwise, the proper verdicts would be mute by visitation of God.

"Now, this doesn’t mean to say you have got to find that a deity has descended upon us and struck him down so that he can’t speak.

“These are very old ways of just describing somebody who it is not his fault that he is mute. It means that if you think he is or it might be the case that he is mute but it’s not his fault - he is unable to speak - then you will find him mute by visitation of God.

“Only if you are sure he is deliberately faking his inability to speak will you find him mute by malice.”