A born-again Christian who sexually abused boys and girls at his wife’s child minding business was jailed for 22 years on Friday.
William Patterson had been convicted last year of 84 counts of abusing children over a 13 year period starting in September 2005.
The sentence passed on Patterson, 69, by Judge Philip Babington at Coleraine Crown today is one of the longest jail terms ever imposed on a convicted paedophile in Northern Ireland.
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Patterson, whose pre-trial bail address was given as Magherafelt Road in Tobermore, was convicted of sexually abusing 19 pre-school and primary school boys and girls, the youngest aged three. After his arrest Patterson told investigating detectives his wife “knew absolutely nothing about anything”.
Because of the magnitude of the charges he faced, coupled with the number of victims, he went on trial for 52 of the charges in June 2021 after which he was unanimously convicted of all of the offences he’d denied. He was then remanded in custody.
Reporting restrictions were imposed following the June convictions to enable the second trial to start on November 10 of last year. That trial ended on November 22 when he was unanimously convicted of a further 32 child abuse offences.
Mid way through the second trial Judge Babington granted a prosecution application to disclose to the jury Patterson’s convictions from the first trial. At both the June and November trials Patterson instructed his legal team not to cross-examine any of his 19 victims.
His offending was uncovered in August 2018 when the mother of two of his child victims heard her children talking about Patterson’s private parts after she’d collected them from the childminding premises. She reported her concerns to the police.
Patterson was interviewed ten times by police officers between August and November 2018 and he answered “no comment” to most of the questions put to him. Jurors at both trials were told Patterson abused the children at his then home, where the childminding business was located. The abuse took place in his garden, on garden swings, in a hot tub and in a garden shed.
He committed sex acts in front of children through a hole he’d cut in a plank of wood and his fluids were found on the plank after it was forensically examined. He also tied some of the children up during the abuse and on occasions got them to tie him to a tree and then to throw sponges at him. He also committed sexual assaults involving penetration against some of his child victims.
At times he coaxed some of his victims to walk naked into his shed where he got them to commit sex acts on him. He also sunbathed naked in from of children. On occasions he lay naked in the garden and persuades some of the children to put towels over him before he’d suddenly throw off the towels to expose himself.
At today’s sentencing hearing, which was attended by the parents of many of Patterson’s victims, Judge Babington described the offending as both disturbing and distressing and he praised the children for their courage in coming forward.
“These children came from a small rural community and the nature of the offending due to its type and location has meant that the effects have been felt by others”, he said.
“The offending in this case has similar characteristics by analogy and it is inevitable that people in the community will have feelings of betrayal, shock and disgust”, he added.
Judge Babington said Patterson, in a pre-sentence report, told its author that he was not guilty of the offences.
“At all times he was not prepared to discuss his offending behaviour simply stating that he had nothing to say and maintaining his innocence”, he said.
“The author went on to say that the defendant deployed several strategies to groom his victims, to manipulate them and gain their trust so that he could engage in activities to meet his own sexual needs and gratification”, Judge Babington said.
He said Patterson was a dangerous offender who had been assessed as presenting a high likelihood of general re-offending.
In sentencing Judge Babington said he took into consideration the large number of complainants, their ages, the fact that it was a breach of trust case, the many forms of abuse and the planning and pre-meditation.
“This was particularly so in relation to the offences committed in his workshop where he used various items to assist him in carrying out the abuse such as a wooden board and various ropes. It was his habit to telephone his wife to send various children to him in the workshop when he was ready and supposedly needed them to assist him in what he was doing”, he said.
“Some of the children have set out their views on how this has effected the and there is no doubt all of them will be effected to a degree. All the complainants showed bravery in coming forward to make their complaints. This has stopped this depraved man from further offending”, he added.
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