Wales Online
April 8, 2011
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/04/08/head-verger-found-guilty-of-indecently-assaulting-a-young-chorister-20-years-ago-91466-28487030/
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| Verger Colin James Adams |
A FORMER head verger at Llandaff Cathedral is facing jail after a jury found him guilty of indecently assaulting a teenage chorister 20 years ago.
Colin James Adams, 58, pictured, was today placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register while he awaits sentencing.
After his retrial at Cardiff Crown Court, it emerged he also had a conviction for gross indecency in 1996 which saw him leave his Cardiff post and find a similar role in the North East of England.
Jurors today took five hours to find him guilty of three charges. They cleared him of four other allegations of indecent assault and of the more serious charge of buggery.
The jury of six men and six women had been unaware of a first trial which took place at the same court last year, or of the previous offence.
They only learned why he had given up his top job at Llandaff Cathedral moments after their foreman delivered the verdicts to an expressionless Adams sitting in the dock.
It was, said prosecutor, Sue Ferrier because of an appearance before Cardiff Magistrates Court in February 1996 when he pleaded guilty to gross indecency in public toilets at Leckwith, Cardiff, and was fined ?100 with costs.
She told the shocked court: “The evidence was of him being seen entering and leaving the toilets eight times in an hour.
“He was seen to be performing a sex act on himself while gazing at another man who was doing likewise.”
Adams is currently verger at St Nicholas Cathedral in Newcastle upon Tyne where he has been suspended from duties but allowed to remain in his church-owned house in the grounds, pending the outcome of his trial.
His barrister, Peter Davies said he would be unlikely to be able to keep the accommodation or his job in the light of the guilty pleas returned by a majority of 10 to two and 11 to one.
He told the court: “The appearance before Cardiff magistrates in 1996 led to him no longer holding office at Llandaff and he spent a period unemployed before making application to Newcastle.
“They knew about the conviction, took him on, initially, on a probationary basis and he has remained there ever since.
“He was suspended from duties at the time of his arrest in 2010.”
Judge Patrick Curran QC told the jurors that a deliberate decision had been taken not to put the previous conviction before them during the week-long trial.
Addressing them before they left the courtroom for the last time, he said: “I hope it is not something you will find disturbing.
“A balance has to be struck on deciding the admissibility of evidence of fairness on one hand and prejudice on the other.
“The view was taken that with the admission of the defendant’s sexual orientation, the right balance had been achieved.”
The trial had heard how Adams had been a married man with three children when he groomed, and then assaulted, the teenage choir member and altar server in the early 1990s.
He later “came out” as homosexual and is divorced from his wife Ruth with whom he brought up his family at White House Cottage on Llandaff Cathedral Green – a home provided by the Cathedral authorities.His victim alleged during the trial that the verger made sexual advances to him in the drawing room of the tied-cottage while his wife and children were out.
Adams was accused of grooming the boy – who had ambitions to be a church minister – giving him gifts of books and offering to take him on visits to religious sites.
The victim claimed Adams eventually became his stalker, saying he would suddenly appear as he walked home from school. He said the verger would then walk him back home where the boy’s church-going parents would invite the verger to tea.
The verger was also alleged to have sent the boy cards and letters up to three times a week.
The victim said in evidence that he had reported to another priest, Father John Ward, that he felt uncomfortable around Adams and was told he would be spoken to.
Father Ward told the court he had no recollection of any such complaint and said he had never had occasion to speak to Adams or write to him about any such matter.
Adams was bailed for reports before sentence but warned by the judge that all sentencing options are open.
He was instructed to remain in court long enough to sign on the Sex Offenders’ Register before leaving.
He is expected to spend his time on bail with his grown-up children, who still live in the South Wales area.
Following the verdict, a spokeswoman for the Church in Wales said: “The Diocese of Llandaff deeply regrets that someone employed by the Cathedral as a verger abused his position of trust and caused such physical and mental harm to a young person. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those involved.
“As a Church we deplore all forms of child abuse and we co-operated fully with the police throughout this investigation. We are committed to safeguarding children and young people in the church community and now have a stringent Child Protection Policy which requires all people, whether lay or clergy, who work with children, to be fully vetted including having a Criminal Record Bureau check. We have also just completed an independent professional review of all clergy files – serving and retired – to uncover any allegations or suspicion of abuse that might have been made prior to the implementation of our Child Protection Policy.
“The care and protection of children is of paramount importance to us. We want to do everything we possibly can to ensure the Church in Wales is a safe place for our children to grow up in and to be nurtured in the Christian faith.”
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