Police carried out a search warrant at Adams’ home and seized several electronic devices, which were found to contain 5500 images and videos of child exploitation.
His charges have been formulated from a small selection of the 5500 images and videos.
His offending involved setting up cellphones and secret cameras in the bathroom, often concealed behind toilet paper rolls, and recording when the victim took showers.
On other occasions, Adams went into the victim’s room while she slept and pulled down her pants and underwear so he could take photos of her body on his phone.
“The defendant distributed these images to unknown recipients via online chat applications,” the summary said.
“The defendant used these images of the victim as material to trade for similar images of other users’ children.”
On one occasion, he used a syringe to squirt water on the victim’s bottom while she slept, at the request of another chat room user.
He was also found to have numerous other copies of objectionable material on his devices which he had downloaded.
When spoken to by police, he admitted the offending and said he initially set up accounts on the chat applications to talk to strangers while portraying himself as a female.
He told police he’d started filming the victim so he could trade the material for images of other users’ daughters.
He explained how he would set the cameras up and disguise them, and that he did this at the request of other users.
“The defendant stated his preferred age group was between 13 and 17 years old, but he used the material of younger children to trade for images of older children.”
Some of the videos he received in return had children as young as four in them.
“He commented that he believes that people should not have images of this nature, as they are disgusting and illegal.”
In a victim impact statement, the girl’s mother said she hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep since finding out what had happened.
When she told her daughter about the offending, the girl was “heartbroken”.
“She has tried writing her own statement, but every time she tries she gets upset and ends up in tears,” she said.
Adams’ defence lawyer Jason Owers said his client understood how serious his offending was, and that pre-sentence psychological treatment had helped him comprehend the harm to his victims.
“His life will never go back to how it was now that he’s been exposed, and he’ll have to deal with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life,” he said.
“It occurred, the offending, at a time where he felt personally vulnerable, but that’s no excuse.”
During sentencing, Judge Andrew Nicholls addressed the victim directly, thanking her for coming to court.
“What happened to you should not have happened. This offending should not have happened. You were meant to be safe, as all children are meant to be safe,” he said.
“What I also want you to know is that the world is full of decent people who you can trust. What Mr Adams did is not normal and it’s not common.”
Judge Nicholls said the offending was “confronting and monstrous”. He allowed a discount to Adams’ sentence for his early guilty plea, engagement with treatment and remorse, but rejected a request to discount the sentence for previous good character.
He sentenced Adams to four years and two months in prison. An apparent sigh of relief went around those seated in the public gallery as the sentence was announced.
