A man who made three young girls take polaroid pictures of themselves as he sexually abused them has lost his appeal against four life sentences imposed on him when he appeared before the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday.
Mr Justice Kearns, presiding, and sitting with Mr Justice O'Neill and Mr Justice Abbott, said John Adams (64), Dunvale, Ballymena, Co Antrim, had encouraged the children aged from seven to 12 in a cunning, manipulative way and described him as a "very depraved man".
This was one of the worst cases to come before the court as far back as any of his fellow judges could remember, Mr Justice Kearns said.
Adams's history of sex-offending was quite alarming. Three innocent young lives had been damaged and his plea of guilty only came seven years later, when he was sentenced in the Central Criminal Court in July 2003. Such a plea was only of value when it was entered early, he said.
He said the court had reached a clear view to dismiss the appeal and affirm the ruling of the trial judge. They did so because it was one of the gravest cases to come before the court in recent times. There were multiple episodes of sexual abuse over a 21-month period and there was an absence of remorse.
Taking photographs was an aggravating feature.
Adams had pleaded guilty in the Central Criminal Court to four counts of unlawful carnal knowledge and two counts of sexual abuse between 1991 and 1993 in a Co Louth town. He was sentenced on July 28th, 2003.
Mr Justice Carney made an order that the name of the town was not to be reported in the media.
Earlier, in submissions for Adams, Mr John O'Kelly SC, argued that his client's guilty plea was not taken sufficiently into account at his trial. Sex offenders generally served their sentences, he said, whereas in other cases release seemed to be more flexible.
Mr O'Kelly added that the rape charge was more serious and that even in rape sentences, a life sentence was very seldom applied unless there was violence to the victim.
He said Adams had been in prison since 1997.
Mr Justice Abbott said he would be up for parole in another year.
Adams, who had a previous conviction for child abduction in Belfast, was apprehended by the then Royal Ulster Constabulary in February 1997 when they found numerous pictures hidden in his room.
These featured him sexually abusing young girls and were concealed behind picture frames throughout his Ballymena house.
Mr Patrick Gageby SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said it was one of the worst cases ever to come before Mr Justice Carney.
There was no evidence of remorse and no evidence of rehabilitation, Mr Gageby added.
The Central Criminal Court was told by Det Garda Michael O'Driscoll that Adams moved to the girls' town about 1989-90 and became friendly with them about a year later. He then began to visit them and later they began to visit him in his flat.
Adams gave them presents throughout the period he abused them, Det Garda O'Driscoll said, presenting them with Walkmans, watches and chains.
He kept a diary of his sexual activities with them, which was also found at his home.
In addition to a number of convictions dating back to 1951, Adams was also jailed in 1979 for abducting two children from the street in Belfast.
He lured the two children aged six and eight to his home with sweets and kept them there overnight, but no sexual activity took place with them.