Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
OAP GUILTY OF SEXUALLY ABUSING 19 BOYS & GIRLS
Sicko preyed on kids in wife’s care
A PERVERT who abused kids at his wife’s childminding business was yesterday found guilty of a litany of sex offences.
William Patterson was convicted of 79 charges of sexually abusing 19 pre-school and primary school boys and girls, the youngest of whom was three years of age, at his family home over a 13-year period starting in September 2005.
The 68-year-old is to be sentenced in January.
Patterson, whose pre-trial bail address was given as Magherafelt Road in Tobermore, Co Derry, carried out the litany of abuse at his home where his wife ran the business.
Because of the magnitude of the charges he faced coupled with the number of victims, he went on trial for 47 of the charges last June after which he was unanimously convicted of all of the 47 offences he had denied. Reporting restrictions were put in place following the June convictions to enable the second trial to start on November 10 at Derry Crown Court sitting in Coleraine.
That trial finished yesterday after which the jurors unanimously convicted Patterson of a further 32 child sex abuse offences.
At neither trial did Patterson give evidence and on his instructions his legal team did not crossexamine any of his 19 victims but some of his victims’ parents were cross examined.
Mid-way through the second trial earlier this month Judge Philip Babington granted a prosecution application to disclose to the jurors Patterson’s previous convictions from last June for similar offences over the same period of time in the same locations.
The judge remanded Patterson into immediate custody following his convictions in June of this year.
He will remain there until he’s sentenced for all of his 79 convictions in the new year.
After the jury forewoman announced the 32 unanimously guilty verdicts, Judge Babington thanked the jurors for the manner in which they dealt with the trial.
He said: “These cases are not easy. They can be at times upsetting and you have dealt with it very professionally.”
Judge Babington granted the jurors a five-year exemption from future jury service and told them that a posttrial confidential counselling and advice service was available to them.
He added: “Family members, some of whom are in court, have been very traumatised.”