In 2019, the Offender Database reported that Mark Adams, then 56, was convicted of rape at the High Court in Edinburgh. Adams, a high-profile former civil servant who served as a private secretary to Prime Ministers John Major and Tony Blair, was found to be a serial predator following two separate rape convictions within the span of a single month.
The court heard that in the early hours of August 10, 2017, Adams targeted a 19-year-old student as she returned home from a night out at the Edinburgh Fringe. He lured the teenager to his camper van parked on Regent Road, where he raped her while she was asleep. The victim provided harrowing testimony, describing how she woke up to find Adams assaulting her. Although Adams, an OBE recipient and Cambridge graduate from Fareham, Hampshire, claimed the encounter was consensual, the jury returned a guilty verdict after just two hours of deliberation.
The Edinburgh conviction followed a previous trial in January 2019, where Adams was found guilty of raping a 24-year-old woman at his London home. That attack occurred the morning after the 2015 general election. Furthermore, the court was informed that Adams had also been convicted of a separate sexual assault in a Welsh court the previous year, establishing a clear pattern of predatory behaviour across the United Kingdom.
Judge Lord Armstrong described rape as a “grave crime” and emphasised that imprisonment was inevitable for an offender of Adams’ history. The judge deferred the final sentencing until March 2019 to obtain comprehensive background reports. During this period, Adams was remanded in custody, with the court noting that his professional background and prestigious accolades made his “calculated and predatory” actions even more egregious.
Following his sentencing, Mark Adams was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life. He is managed under the highest level of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) due to his status as a repeat sexual offender. His convictions led to his professional reputation being entirely disgraced, and he remains subject to strict post-release monitoring to ensure public safety.
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