A Belfast man who made three young Louth girls take polaroid pictures of themselves in sexual acts with him was given four life sentences by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
John Adams (62) with a last known address at Dunvale, Ballymena, Co Antrim, pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful carnal knowledge and two counts of sexual abuse over a period of three years between 1991 and 1993 in a Co Louth town.
Mr Justice Carney said that in his view some of the pictures which the 62-year-old man had made the girls take were similar to "the worst that would be found in any hardcore magazine".
He made an order that the name of the town was not to be reported in the media.
Adams, who had a previous conviction for child-stealing in Belfast, was apprehended by members of the then RUC in February 1997 when they found numerous pictures of himself in sexual activity with young girls hidden in his home.
The pictures were concealed behind picture frames placed in various areas of his Ballymena house and showed the three girls involved in this case.
Det Garda Michael O'Driscoll told prosecuting counsel Mr Patrick Gageby SC, that the girls involved were around six, eight and 10 years of age at the time.
Adams moved to the girls' town around 1989-90 and became friendly with them about a year later. He then began to visit them and later they began to visit him in his flat.
Det Garda O'Driscoll said Adams introduced them to the subject of sex gradually and began to take polaroid pictures of them. He then began to sexually abuse all three girls and went on to have sexual intercourse with them.
Det Garda O'Driscoll said the sexual activities took place regularly two or three times a week in his flat.
He made one of the other girls take pictures of him having sex with the other. About 70 polaroid pictures of such nature were found in his home.
Adams kept giving them presents throughout the period he abused them, presenting them with walkmans, watches and chains. He kept a diary of his sexual activities with them which was also found at his home during the RUC search.
Some of the diary entries referred to specific dates and times of sexual intercourse with the girls and how he felt during these times. Det Garda O'Driscoll said the pictures found in Adam's home might have been edited or cut as none of them showed their faces.
When RUC members contacted gardaí in the girls' Co Louth area, they were able to identify the girls by items of clothing and various other clues that appeared in the pictures.
Det Garda O'Driscoll said in addition to a number of convictions dating back to 1951, Adams was also jailed in 1979 for stealing two children from the street in Belfast.
He lured the two children, aged six and eight, to his home with sweets and kept them there overnight, but no sexual activity took place with them.
Det Garda O'Driscoll told Mr Justice Carney that at no point during the investigation had Adams shown any remorse for his activities.
Mr Justice Carney, who also gave Adams four year terms on each of the two sexual abuse counts, said the case was very similar to one currently before the Court of Criminal Appeal where he had imposed a life sentence on a person who took children to a hotel and filmed them in sexual acts.
The case is due to be heard at the Court of Criminal Appeal this week and Mr Justice Carney said he had considered briefly whether he should adjourn this case until the Appeal court made a ruling.
However, he said, on the other hand he had Adams' victims sitting in front of him, and he had to consider them.
One of Adams' victims, now aged in her early 20s, told the Court:"This man ruined all our lives. He took away our innocence and it is going to be in our heads always. It can never be taken away."