He is currently trying to clean up his act and qualify as a personal trainer, but he's still on a suspended sentence so his offending days are not yet fully behind him.
Sentencing him, judge Lady Wyse pointed out that McLaughlin had a lengthy history of offending with more than 50 previous convictions and in the last decade had committed serious crimes of violence, including robbery and assault.
The politician said that "money or financial gain" had never been a motive for him and stressed that the social inquiry report had assessed him as being of low risk for harm to the public and for re-offending.