A pensioner who made three young girls take Polaroid pictures of themselves as he sexually abused them has failed in a bid to appeal his conviction and life sentence to the Supreme Court on grounds his case involved a legal point of public importance.
John Adams (67), with an address at Dunvale, Ballymena, Co Antrim, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court in 2003 to four counts of unlawful carnal knowledge and two counts of sexual abuse of the girls between 1991 and 1993 in a Co Louth town.
Mr Justice Paul Carney imposed four life sentences on Adams.
In December 2004, the Court of Criminal Appeal rejected his appeal against conviction and sentence.
Adams yesterday asked the court to refer his appeal to the Supreme Court on a point of law arising from the fact a life sentence could be imposed even with a guilty plea.
Moving the application, John Peart SC, argued there was no incentive for someone accused of the most serious offences to plead guilty if they knew that they were going to be given a life sentence.
This resulted in persons accused of serious offences contesting cases and did not take into account the feelings of victims, who as a result would have to give evidence and be cross-examined during trials, counsel said. A plea of guilty should be acknowledged by a judge when a sentence is being formulated, he argued.
Counsel for the DPP, Patrick Gageby SC, submitted no point of law had been raised which was of such importance it required determination by the Supreme Court.
The three-judge appeal court, with Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill and Mr Justice Henry Abbott, refused the application.
Mr Justice Kearns said the court was satisfied that no new point of law had been established by Adams.
He said a recent decision of the Supreme Court stated that, in exceptional circumstances, maximum sentences may be imposed on individuals who plead guilty to offences. The court was satisfied that this was such a case.
The Judge said that prior to his case coming before the Central Criminal Court Adams had exhausted every avenue to try to stop the trial, which he was entitled to do. His guilty plea only came seven years after he was first apprehended for the offences, and the court believed it must be taken in that light.
The judge said Adams had encouraged the children aged from seven to 12 in a "cunning way" and described the photographs as "graphic" and "quite horrific".