David Tweed | |
|---|---|
| Member of Ballymena Borough Council | |
| In office 21 May 1997 – 14 February 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Frederick Coulter |
| Succeeded by | Timothy Gaston |
| Constituency | Ballymena South |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 November 1959 Dunloy, County Antrim, Northern Ireland |
| Died | 28 October 2021 (aged 61) |
| Political party | Traditional Unionist Voice (2009 - 2012) Democratic Unionist Party (1997 - 2007) |
| Other political affiliations | Independent (2012 - 2013) UUCP (2007 - 2010) |
David Alexander Tweed[1] (13 November 1959 – 28 October 2021) was a Northern Irish unionist politician, Irish rugby union international and serial child sex offender.
He was convicted as a child sex offender and served four years in prison for child sex abuse. His conviction was later quashed on a technicality, due to the wording of the direction given to the jury in his child sex abuse trial. Despite this legal 'loophole', he is still widely recognised as a domestic abuser towards his former partner, and as the sexual abuser of a number of her children and of other children to whom he had trusted access.
Despite his tawdry and allegedly abusive and paedophilic tendencies, he was lauded upon his death as a "larger than life character" by members of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and by Jim Allister, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV).
As a politician, Tweed served as a Ballymena Borough Councillor for the Ballymena South DEA from 1997 to 2013.