Priest 'more interested in betting than child'

Independent.ie

By Will Batchelor
Thursday May 17 2007

Father Jeremiah McGrath (62) is alleged to have given more than ?20,000 (?30,000) to his friend, 38-year-old convicted paedophile Bill Adams.

Adams, originally from the Belfast area, used the cash to set up home in Liverpool and lavish gifts and holidays on a 11-year-old girl in order to abuse her.

McGrath, of Rosslea, Co Fermanagh, is alleged to have known what Adams was doing and provided the cash to indulge his taste.

Adams has admitted repeatedly raping the girl between May and November 2005 but McGrath denies three counts of facilitating the abuse.

He also denies one count of sexually assaulting the girl in November 2005 by touching her. Now aged 14, the girl gave evidence in Liverpool Crown Court yesterday via a video link.

Trevor Parry-Jones, defending, asked her about a three-week holiday in Blackpool which she took with Adams, her brother and her mother.

Mr Parry-Jones asked the girl if it was correct that McGrath joined them for the third week of the holiday, and she said it was.

He asked if it was correct that Adams' behaviour changed during the third week, from spending time in shops and fairgrounds with the children to loitering in bookmakers' shops, placing large bets with the priest.

Mr Parry-Jones said: "Did Father McGrath used to have a newspaper with him? It was a special newspaper about horses. He constantly had it whenever you saw him, morning, noon and night? He was obsessed with horses wasn't he?"

The girl agreed.

Mr Parry-Jones continued: "The two of them were constantly going off to put money on horses, weren't they? They weren't betting the odd 5p or 10p, were they? These were big notes and a lot of notes, weren't they?"

The girl agreed.

Mr Parry-Jones later told the jury that McGrath was "essentially addicted to gambling".

He also suggested to the girl that she was lying about the alleged sexual assault by McGrath on November 9 and about her claim that the priest told her to touch herself the first time they met. She denied making up the claims.

The girl did not tell anyone about the abuse by Adams because she said he had threatened to "batter me" if she did.

However, she told the court she thought McGrath was aware of the situation. She also explained that on one trip to Blackpool, in which McGrath was supposed to be sharing a hotel bedroom with Adams, the girl stayed with Adams. The prosecution case is likely to end tomorrow.

Will Batchelor