An “absolutely devastated” journalist has been told nobody will be prosecuted over a threat to rape her newborn baby.

Patricia Devlin has hit out after being told by Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service that there is “insufficient evidence” to proceed with the case after a three-year fight to get justice.

Patricia, who the News Reporter of the Year and the Scoop of the Year titles at the 2014 Regional Press Awards, received the threat against her son in October 2019.

The following year she lodged a complaint against Police Service of Northern Ireland over its failure to properly investigate the threat, with the case being reopened after the Police Ombudsman upheld her grievance.

However, her hopes for a successful prosecution have now been dashed again following the decision by the PPS.

Speaking to the BBC, Patricia said: “After I made the complaint to the Police Ombudsman, the PSNI then reinvestigated my original complaint and that individual was eventually questioned, the person [the PSNI] said they tracked the message to.

“I was told I would have to wait for a decision from the PPS. That took almost a year and a half for a decision to be made.

“Now I have been told that there isn’t enough evidence for a prosecution which is absolutely devastating. I feel again that I wasn’t protected, that my son hasn’t been protected.”

The Belfast-based journalist has written numerous articles exposing criminality and its impact on communities in Northern Ireland, which she believes is linked to the threats she has received in recent years.

She said: “The levels of abuse that women are getting online is getting more vicious, more vile and it needs to stop. My male colleagues aren’t having their children threatened with rape, and nor should they.

“My male colleagues aren’t having their appearance criticised, they’re not receiving the same vile sexualised comments on Twitter and they’re covering the same stories as I am, so gender has a huge part to play.

“The question is – is there any point in me making complaints to the police if I receive abuse again even on this scale? Because nothing seems to be done.”

Speaking to HTFP, Patricia said: “I am disappointed at the decision by the Public Prosecution Service to not proceed with a prosecution against the individual identified by police behind the threat to my son.

“For the last three and a half years, I have been fighting an ongoing battle for justice, which included filing a Police Ombudsman complaint against police in Northern Ireland for their inadequate investigation into the threat against my son, sent solely because of my work.

“The Police Ombudsman upheld my complaint against the PSNI, and questions now arise as to whether that inadequate investigation into my complaint has contributed to a clearly dangerous individual not being held to account. “

“I intend to ask the PPS to review its decision.”

A spokesperson from the PPS confirmed to the BBC it had received a file in January 2022 from the police in relation to the messages received, and had explored further lines of inquiry after accepting the contents of the messages to be “grossly offence and menacing”.

The spokesperson added: “After careful consideration, and taking into account all the facts of the case, and the advice of independent counsel, it has been determined that for this reason the evidence was insufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction of this individual for any offence.”