Serial child rapist back in NI found guilty again
Ballymena paedophile convicted of more sex attacks after being brought from English jail
A NOTORIOUS paedophile from Co Antrim has been convicted of raping a teenage boy after being transferred from prison in England to stand trial in Belfast.
William Adams, known as Billy, was convicted last week of the rape and attempted rape of the boy between 1982 and 1983.
Originally from Ballymena, Adams had been serving 15 years after being convicted by a court in Liverpool in 2005 of the repeated rape of a 12-year-old girl.
The case caused shockwaves when it emerged Co Fermanagh priest Fr Jeremiah Mcgrath had helped facilitate the abuse.
The cleric was later jailed for five years for financing and assisting in the grooming of the vulnerable schoolgirl.
Adams’ father John was an infamous paedophile who was sentenced to four life sentences in July 2003 for the rape of three girls aged between six and 10 in Co Louth.
It was one of the longest sentences ever handed out for sex crimes in the Republic.
Adams’ brother David was also convicted in 2009 of raping a 13-year-old girl at a flat in Bangor when he was 38.
ONE of Northern Ireland’s most notorious paedophiles has been convicted of raping a teenage boy after being transferred from prison in England to stand trial in Belfast.
William Adams, known as Billy, was convicted last week of the rape and attempted rape of the boy between 1982 and 1983.
He was acquitted of a third charge of serious sexual assault.
A serial abuser, Adams has been jailed for child sex offences here, in the Republic and in England.
He had been serving 15 years after being convicted by a court in Liverpool in 2005 of the repeated rape of a 12-year-old girl.
The case caused shockwaves when it later emerged Co Fermanagh priest Fr Jeremiah Mcgrath had helped facilitate the abuse.
The cleric was later jailed for five years for financing and assisting in the grooming of the vulnerable schoolgirl.
Originally from Ballymena, Adams lived in the Republic for a number of years, committing offences there, before moving to England where he befriended the family of his young victim, who were unaware of his past.
From a family of sex offenders, his father was an infamous paedophile who was convicted of crimes that horrified the public.
John Adams, from Dunvale in Ballymena, was sentenced to four life sentences in July 2003 — one of the longest sentences ever handed out for sex crimes in the Republic — for the grooming and rape of three girls aged between six and 10 in Co Louth.
The depraved pervert forced the girls to take Polaroid pictures as he abused them at his flat, raping them two or three times a week.
The offences took place between 1991 and 1993.
During an unsuccessful appeal, senior judge Mr Justice Kearns said it was one of the worst cases to have come before the courts in the Republic.
John Adams had a previous conviction for child abduction in Northern Ireland.
In February 1997 he was arrested by RUC officers who found numerous abuse photos hidden in his room.
These featured him assaulting young girls and were concealed behind picture frames throughout his Ballymena home.
The 79-year-old died in 2019 while serving his sentence at Dublin’s Arbour Hill Prison, having never shown any remorse for his crimes.
A second son, David Adams, was convicted in 2009 of raping a 13-year-old girl at a flat in Bangor when he was 38.
Having pleaded not guilty to the offence, putting his young victim through a lengthy and distressing trial, it took a jury of 10 women and two men less than an hour to return three unanimous guilty verdicts.
Billy Adams was found guilty in Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday of last week.
He had been transferred from England to Maghaberry in November 2019 and questioned by specialist PSNI officers about historic sex offences against a boy.
He had moved to Liverpool in late 2004, shortly after serving six years in jail for raping an eight-year-old girl in Dublin. Adams reoffended within weeks of signing the sex offender’s register in England.
During his time there he was also in a relationship with Mcgrath, and was known to stay overnight in the parochial house in Roslea.
Following his arrest in England the PSNI searched the parochial house and seized computer equipment.
Mcgrath later admitted to being in a sexual relationship with the violent offender, and bankrolling him to the tune of around £3,000 a month to groom the little girl and pay the rent on flats where the rapes were carried out.
Adams had put a knife to the girl’s throat and told her he would kill her if she told anyone about the abuse.
The shamed priest, who owned a lucrative shares portfolio, was independently wealthy and used this to pay for the paedophile’s lavish lifestyle, giving him access to his unsuspecting victim, who he showered with gifts and holidays.
Adams told his victim’s family, who were devout Catholics, the priest was his uncle in a bid to gain their trust.
When they became suspicious Mcgrath lied to the girl’s family, telling them they shouldn’t believe the press or the police.
This was despite the priest having visited him in prison in Dublin while he served a 12-year sentence for raping an eightyear-old girl.
After being found guilty last week Adams was remanded back into custody to be sentenced at a later date.