Fury At Web Video Of Judge Beating Daughter

Footage of a disabled girl being beaten with a leather belt by her father - a family law judge - has sparked worldwide fury after she posted it online.

More than 1.6m people have viewed the secretly filmed YouTube video of 16-year-old Hillary Adams being hit 17 times by Aransas County Judge William Adams.

Police in Texas have now launched an investigation into the beating, which was apparently a punishment for her downloading a video pirating programme to her computer.

The distressing footage was filmed seven years ago but has only just been posted online.

It shows Ms Adams, now 23, being repeatedly lashed by her father who promises to beat her her "into submission".

In the opening seconds of the video the 51-year-old judge is heard telling Hillary's mother: "Go get the belt. The big one. I'm going to spank her now."

He repeatedly tells her to "bend over the bed" before shouting: "Lay down or I'll spank you in your f****** face."

Hillary, who has ataxic cerebral palsy, is heard screaming and crying while her father ignores her pleas for him to stop the blows to her legs.

A few minutes into the video, her mother barks at her to "turn over like a 16-year-old and take it. Like a grown woman."

She also takes the belt and hits her daughter with it herself.

After a brief pause, the judge returns to the room and continues the beating.

He then warns his daughter: "If I hear so much as you raise your f****** voice to me or your mother... or you do one thing, or even look at me f****** wrong, I'm gonna take you and I'm gonna wear your f****** ass out with this belt."

Ms Adams, who denies posting the video in revenge, said she had mixed feelings about the angry response it has prompted.

"I'm experiencing some regret because I just pulled the covers off my own father's misbehaviour after so many people thought he was such a good person," she said.

"But so many people are also telling me I did the right thing. He's supposed to be a judge who exercises fit judgment.

"It had happened before, and had been escalating. I set up a camera, and I caught it."

The judge, who has reportedly received a number of death threats, said the footage "looks worse than it is" and that he did not expect to be disciplined.

"In my mind, I haven't done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing," he said.

"And I did lose my temper, but I've since apologised."

Police are now looking into the matter after receiving a number of complaints but it is thought investigators may decide the judge's actions, while shocking to many, were not criminal.

A number of internet campaigns have been formed since the footage went viral, including a Facebook group called Don't Re-Elect Judge William Adams