Liam Adams appeal against rape conviction set for March

An appeal by the brother of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams against being convicted of raping his own daughter will take place next year, it has been confirmed.

Senior judges in Belfast have set aside two days in March to hear Liam Adams’s challenge to being found guilty of sexual assaults.

He is serving a 16-year jail sentence for the offences against his daughter Aine, who waived her right to anonymity.

The abuse was said to have been committed over a six-year period between 1977 and 1983 when the victim was aged between four and nine. Adams (59) consistently denied the allegations during a two-week trial at Belfast Crown Court last year.

But a jury of nine men and three women convicted him of 10 offences against his daughter: three charges of rape, four counts of indecent assault and a further three counts of gross indecency.

Liam Adams, formerly of Bernagh Drive in Belfast, is expected to receive an automatic 50 per cent remission on his jail term. But his challenge covers both the conviction and sentence imposed.

He was not brought before the Court of Appeal today as his lawyers mentioned the case and the availability of trial transcripts.

Lord Justice Girvan agreed to have the full hearing listed to start on March 24th next year.