A leading Orangeman has quit the Order after being charged with committing a sex crime in public.

Veteran Order member Victor Moore, who resigned as Deputy District Master of Ballynafeigh LOL 10 in the wake of his arrest, will appear in court on March 30 accused of intentionally exposing his genitals "intending that someone would see them and be caused alarm or distress".

His alleged victims told police how they witnessed the 73-year-old widower flashing and performing a sex act on himself in the back garden of his former home in the Suffolk estate in west Belfast.

Moore, who strongly denies any wrongdoing, has a tragic past.

His daughter Grace Moore was raped and murdered by illegal immigrant Kristoff Alauya in 2006.

Her beauty queen daughter Lori Moore - who was crowned Miss Northern Ireland in 2010 - gave evidence at Alauya's trial of how she discovered her mum's body.

Following the horrific sex killing, Lori moved in with her grandfather Victor and grandmother Florence, who passed away three years ago. Sunday Life understands she is no longer in touch with him.

A Public Prosecution Service (PPS) spokesman confirmed a male had been charged in connection with the July 2019 incident.

Victor Moore is well known in loyalist circles and in 2016 was installed as Deputy District Master of the Orange Order's No 10 District based in Ballynafeigh Orange Hall on Belfast's Ormeau Road. He was also a prominent Freemason.

An Orange Order spokesman confirmed that he resigned from the top post in August 2019 ­- a month after his arrest on sex crime charges.

"Victor Moore resigned his membership of the Orange Order in August 2019," said the spokesman.

The family of Moore's alleged victim last night welcomed the decision by the PPS to charge him.

They said: "This is a very traumatic time for our family and we welcome the decision by the PPS to prosecute Mr Moore.

"It's our view that the legal process should be allowed to take its course, and hopefully our family can find closure and move on with our lives."



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Orange Order sources explained how Moore is now living in England having received notice that he has been formally charged.

One said: "Victor would have been considered a pillar of the community. Fellow Orangemen have been shocked by this, anyone who knows him is finding it hard to process."

Moore has previously spoken about his strong Christian faith, telling reporters in the wake of the 2006 murder of his daughter Grace that "at times like this you need God".

Four years later the leading loyalist, who once led the Orange Order parade through Belfast, was in the crowd cheering on granddaughter Lori when she won Miss Northern Ireland.

In 2017 he was the victim of a vicious attack in west Belfast while returning from a morning visit to a shop. The assault, which saw him punched in the face, is not linked to the indecent exposure charge.

Moore revealed: "He hit me with a fist on my forehead and swung his boot into my groin. Then the driver got out with a lump hammer with what must have been a two foot shaft and started swinging it. One of the other neighbours arrived and said 'come on to hell' and we ran up the alleyway and got away."

Belfast Telegraph