Former Downing Street aide jailed for raping second woman two years after first attack
‘You took advantage of her in a calculating and manipulative manner,’ judge tells Mark Adams
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A former Downing Street aide has been jailed for seven years for raping a young woman during the Edinburgh Festival – only two years after he raped a woman in London.
Mark Adams, who worked under both John Major and Tony Blair, attacked the 19-year-old as she made her way home in the Scottish capital in August 2017.
The ex-civil servant, 56, was already in prison after being found guilty of raping a woman at his house in London’s Blackheath area in 2015.
At the High Court in Glasgow on Tuesday, Adams was given another seven year sentence to match the seven-year-sentence handed down at Woolwich Crown Court in January.
He will serve the sentences consecutively and was also put on the sex offenders register.
Adams raped the teenager inside his camper van parked on Edinburgh’s Regent Street in the early hours, having lured her into the back of the vehicle.
Lord Armstrong said: “You have been convicted of the rape during the Edinburgh Festival in 2017 of a young woman who was vulnerable and made the mistake of accepting your offer of assistance.
“You took advantage of her in a calculating and manipulative manner when she was alone and making her way home on the streets of Edinburgh.”
The victim’s impact statement “makes it very clear that your actions have had a devastating and continuing detrimental effect on the quality of her life”, the judge said.
Adams’ website describes him as an “independent political consultant, media commentator and general business adviser”.
He spent almost six years in 10 Downing Street, first under John Major, then under Tony Blair, and in 1997 was awarded the OBE.
His defence counsel, Gary Allan QC, said: “This is a man who in the past has given great service to the community, both professionally and personally.”
He added: “It’s all the more of a tragedy that there has been a seismic change in his position so far as regard where his good character is concerned ... He has fallen down, he’s very ashamed, he’s very remorseful.”
Adams was jailed two months ago for raping a 24-year-old woman as she slept on a sofa at his home.
The former aide has a further previous sexual assault convicted following an incident at a pub in the Welsh town of Tenby.
He was given a suspended jail sentence last year after he was convicted of sexual assault by touching at Swansea Crown Court.