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	Roslea Priest Sentenced to Five Years for Aiding Rape Fermanagh Herald [Northern Ireland] June 20, 2007 http://www.nwipp-newspapers.com/FH/free/323906622216485.php Former Roslea Parish Priest, Father Jeremiah McGrath, who had earlier been convicted of assisting a dangerous convicted pedophile, groom and abuse a young girl was jailed this week for five years. McGrath, Liverpool Crown Court heard, was 'obsessed' with William Adams, with whom he had had a sexual relationship, and, when Adams repeatedly raped the child, McGrath bankrolled the abuse. Jailing Adams for life, Judge Brian Lewis said that there was a significant risk of him committing similar offences for the foreseeable future. "Possibly for as long as you are sexually active you will be a danger to young girls," he told him. He imposed a minimum term of seven and a half years before 40-year-old Adams, who formerly lived in Belfast and Dublin, can be considered for parole, but warned him that he would not be released until he was assessed as no longer being a danger. Adams had met McGrath when Adams was 21 and living in a hostel in Dublin. McGrath knew he was later convicted of raping an eight-year-old girl for which he was jailed for 12 years. During that time, McGrath visited and wrote to him and Adams who also has a conviction for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl for which he received 10 months' imprisonment. Judge Lewis told 64-year-old McGrath, formerly of Parochial House, Church Road, Roslea, that he knew from his pastoral work experience that the girl and her family were vulnerable. The girl, who was aged 11 or 12 at the time of the offences, had 'hung onto Adams everywhere he went.' "You are an intelligent man, you could see the vulnerablity. You knew exactly what was likely to happen and, later you played a central role in ensuring that it did", the judge added. Liverpool Crown Court heard that Adams repeatedly raped the girl over six months while they were on holiday in Southport and Blackpool as well as at his former home in Bootle, Merseyside and, later when he was living in Blackpool. While on the two holidays in Blackpool in the Summer of 2005, McGrath joined Adams, the girl, her mother and brother. Adams was using the name 'Adamson' and pretending to be the girl's father. "You played a full part in the 'Adamson family' pretence, the children called you granddad and you were passed off as Adams' uncle, the family elder from Ireland, who, to add an extra dash of respectability, was also a priest. "People instinctively trusted you because of your cloth. By your betrayal of that trust, you have permanently renounced the respect which is shown in the references from Ireland," said Judge Lewis. Adams was unemployed, he went on, but had his own bank account and a joint account with McGrath into which McGrath paid in thousands of pounds. In the last three weeks of August, 2005, alone, £4,000 was withdrawn. "You were to a significant degree bankrolling his activities in the full knowledge of what he was up to," said Judge Lewis. He suggested that the lengths he (McGrath) was prepared to go to protect Adams were shown in November that year on a day he had driven the girl back to Merseyside after she spent time with Adams at the Charnock Richard service station on the M6 in Lancashire. Her family were concerned that she was missing, he recalled, but when McGrath spoke to her grandmother, who was frantic with worry, he lied and said he had not seen her. "You didn't have the basic human decency to put her mind at rest," said Judge Lewis. McGrath. he said, also lied to her about Adams' previous conviction for rape. Adams had only been released from the 12 year sentence six months before moving to Merseyside. He then befriended the girl's family, after meeting her father, who was separated from her mother. Judge Lewis told Adams that they were the sort of family typically targeted by predatory pedophiles, "of which I have no doubt you are one". "What followed was a period of intense grooming, corrupting the child and her family with gifts, money and holidays, representing a level of expenditure and lifestyle to which they could never aspire." He said with 'sickening irony' he took the girl to Blackpool for a weekend to mark her 12th birthday and, later that Summer, during a three week holiday had sex with her every night. Funded by McGrath, a gambler, he bought her gifts and expensive clothes, gave her money and took her out for treats, including a night out in a hired limousine as well as paying for the hotels. He had told the girl the treats would continue as long as she complied and that, otherwise he would batter her. McGrath had been found guilty of one charge of arranging or facilitating Adams to commit a child sex offence. Both he and Adams were ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life. During the trial, the court heard that McGrath had considerable means, including an apartment in America, and the Crown asked for prosecution and police costs of £90,000. Judge Lewis said that because of lack of evidence about his means, he would instead order him to pay £5,000 costs. McGrath had been cleared of a similar offence, but the jury was unable to agree verdicts on a third similar charge and another alleged offence of sexually assaulting the girl, which have been left to lie on the file. Adams had pleaded guilty to five rape offences. His barrister, Arthur Gibson submitted that his client had not used force on the girl and that he had made a lengthy statement to police after pleading guilty and had been prepared to give evidence for the prosecution. "He is genuinely remorseful for what he has done." Trevor Parry-Jones, defending McGrath, said that he had been "obsessed" with Adams. He had wanted to be with him which was why he came on the holidays and he closed his eyes to what was going on. He had worked in Africa for 20 years as a missionary and references from Ireland, he submitted, showed he had performed his parish duties in "an exemplary manner. "His fall from grace has been dramatic," he added.
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