Tinder Rapist Patrick Nevin, who refused to tell gardai where he's staying now he's free, has 'LOADS MORE' victims who never came forward - Here's how they plan to stop the man they call 'a DANGER to the WOMEN of Ireland' from striking again

Published: 22:07, 24 April 2026 | Updated: 22:07, 24 April 2026 Notorious Tinder Rapist Patrick Nevin has several more victims who never came forward as we can reveal how gardaí have implemented a specialist surveillance plan to keep tabs on the sexual predator. Nevin, 44, was released from the Midlands Prison in Co. Laois on Thursday morning having completed a 12–year stint behind bars with one senior Garda telling the Mail: ‘He is a danger to the women of Ireland.’ In those years, both prison and Garda sources described Nevin as ‘wholly unrepentant’, ‘arrogant’ and they believe it’s ‘a matter of time’ before he’s back behind bars in Ireland, the UK or in Europe. A senior source yesterday described the serial rapist as ‘lethal’, and chillingly added there is an ‘array of more victims out there, loads more’. In 2014, twisted Nevin went on a 11–day sexual rampage, using the Tinder app to lure three unsuspecting women before viciously attacking them. As he left the prison at 11am on Thursday, gardaí were already on high alert. He had refused to give his address and said he was of ‘no fixed abode’ and was informed he had to tell gardaí where he is staying within seven days or else he faces arrest and charges for not disclosing the information. He left in a waiting vehicle and is now understood to be seeking accommodation in Dublin. However, gardaí are more concerned with his future plans. A specialist unit is closely monitoring his movements until he gives them an address. Changing his name, moving jurisdictions or using his computer science degree obtained behind bars are all tools detectives believe he could use to hide his horrific history and terrorise women all over again. He had been working for a private IT firm in 2014 when he carried out the sickening attacks. In 2014, twisted Nevin went on a 11–day sexual rampage, using the Tinder app to lure three unsuspecting women before viciously attacking them Patrick Nevin during his court case. Gardaí have been preparing for his release for weeks and already set plans into motion to monitor his whereabouts. Gardaí have been preparing for his release for weeks and already set plans into motion to monitor his whereabouts. An elite team is using covert surveillance and other monitoring tools to keep tabs on Nevin, such is his danger to members of the public. They have also been in contact with their counterparts north of the border as well as the UK and Europe to warn them that the serial rapist may be coming to their shores. His victims here were informed he was due to be released, the Mail can confirm. A senior Garda revealed: ‘He’s at the highest level for reoffending. He is not a changed man. He kept to himself while he was inside, kept the head down, but now that he’s out, there’s a real fear that he will keep going as he previously did. He described Nevin as ‘lethal’ and that he has multiple other victims out there who were conned into trusting him while using dating apps. A dedicated strategy is now in place to deal with Nevin’s release such is the fear that he will strike again, several security sources explained to the Mail. He is being managed by the Sex Offender Management and Intelligence Unit (SOMIU). This uses an information sharing deal between Ireland and the UK . It allows the sharing of information directly between the SOMIU unit, Garda National Protective Services Bureau (GNPSB) and the Public Protection Intelligence Unit as well as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) regarding convicted sex offenders who cross over the border between both jurisdictions. When the SOMIU receives such a notification, the intelligence is recorded on the Garda PULSE system and the relevant nominated Garda Divisional Inspector involved in the monitoring of sex offenders is notified immediately. This Divisional Inspector is then required to organise for the monitoring of the offender and, where relevant, the offender is approached or visited to ensure they understand their requirements. According to several people involved in the Nevin case, these wheels are already in motion. Nevin’s criminal history is vast, vile and vicious and began from a very early age. Born in 1981 to Cynthia Owen, who was herself subjected to horrific sexual abuse in what became known as the infamous Dalkey House of Horrors, Nevin’s deviancy began in his teens, crimes which have previously been condemned by his mother. Aged nine, he was taken to Denmark by his father. While there, he sexually attacked his friend’s mother. He was just 17 at the time. Nevin was visiting the friend at his home but when the young man went out, Nevin turned violent, sexually attacking the woman before beating her unconscious. He was convicted of aggravated oral rape and sexual assault. He only served a short term in Denmark because of his juvenile status and an agreement to return to Ireland. In February 2001, upon his return here, he meted out a savage beating to his then girlfriend – he also killed her two dogs with a table leg. In 2019, he was handed a 12–year, backdated jail sentence after convictions for the rape of one woman and the sexual assault of another – both of whom he met on the dating app Tinder. He carried out both attacks in Co. Meath. The sentence was increased by two–and–a–half years in 2020, after the State appealed the undue leniency of his sentence. Nevin had already been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for the sexual assault of a third victim, a Brazilian student, at the UCD campus in Dublin during the same 11–day period in 2014 as the other crimes. Gardaí and prison staff who dealt with the rapist said he was ‘unrepentant’ while he served his time. The fear of him reoffending is a ‘real issue’, one source with knowledge of the depraved criminal told the Mail. Nevin’s mother Cynthia Owen, interviewed in 2018, denounced her own son for the horror attacks on women. She said: ‘There are no excuses for what he did.’ Nevin, previously of Meadowlands Court, Dún Laoghaire, is not expected to return to that area. Some of his victims have since come forward after they were told he was due to be released. Speaking under the pseudonym Zara – a survivor who gave evidence against him in court – said she feared for her safety and that of other women. When she was informed by gardaí that Nevin would be released this spring, Zara told Pat Kenny on Newstalk that she felt instantly cold and afraid. She said: ‘I feel exactly like I did in the court, when he looked at me with so much hate because I told the truth to the police...it was horrible because I was the victim, but I feel like a horrible person because I put someone in prison.’ Asked if she was scared he might come after her, she replied: ‘Yes, for sure. The police said I am safe…but we never know what one person can do with others, if they want revenge.’ Warning women about the potential dangers of using a dating app, she said: ‘The only thing that I can say for other women is to be careful. ‘The men who are using this type of platform – it’s not the real person. ‘You never know who is there; probably a good man, good woman – or it can be a monster. I had bad luck and I found a monster. I was not the only victim. I was not alone. He did this with another woman. So be careful.’ Zara recalled how she met Nevin while living in Dublin back in 2014, having taken a friend’s advice to go on Tinder to meet local people and practise her English. ‘It was the worst thing I did in my life,’ she recalled. She said that after her profile had been up for a few weeks, she matched with Nevin. She said the photos, profile, name and the age all seemed normal, and that he began by seeming very friendly and kind. She admitted that, at the time, she did not have any experience with online dating. They had started by communicating through Tinder and moved on to chat on WhatsApp, she said. Zara added: ‘He invited me a lot to go out, and when he invited me to meet for a coffee, in my mind everything was normal. ‘But when I entered in the car, he had the plan, not for a coffee, but for sex. I remember some things, but after 11 years, I think my brain just cleaned my mind – thank God for that – because I had bad moments with this guy. ‘He stopped in a place completely weird and strange for me, because I was new in Dublin…I look around and I did not recognise that I was in a university. ‘When he stopped the car, he tried to kiss me, he tried to remove my clothes. We fought, and in this moment I had a lot of fear. ‘I don’t like to remember, because the fear, the memory…no–one that I knew was close. It was just me and this guy. ‘I remember when I found the button to open the door and I escaped, and this guy just drove away like crazy. I walked and I found this kind woman who helped me to get a taxi and come back to my home. ‘This part was the only part that I will not forget, because someone helped me.’ She told Pat Kenny in January – ahead of Nevin’s release – that while she was in the car, she was afraid she might die. Zara said: ‘It was horrible to feel his hand….you just want to escape. It was a fear cycle. The only thing I remember was the feeling when I escaped. Because in the car I went into a state that I cannot explain.’ She said the impact of the attack had shaped the rest of her life. ‘I don’t want to date anyone,’ she said. ‘I didn’t have a life, I don’t have kids, I don’t have a husband, I don’t work. And I’m scared about men; I don’t want to stay alone with men anymore. ‘I always prefer places where I can see more than one person because I don’t feel safe.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.