How a serial domestic abuser legally changed his name after latest sexual assault conviction

Warning: This story contains details of sexual assault.

Jenny Smith was sick to her stomach as she read a letter from Correctional Service Canada last week, letting her know the man who raped her had changed his name.

Adam Budgell, a man with a lengthy record of abusing women in Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario, is now legally named Adam Penney.

"I was kind of surprised he was able to change his name considering he's a registered sex offender," said Smith (her real name is shielded by a publication ban). "I would have thought that alone would have stopped the ability to do that."

Penney is on a sex offender registry until 2039. He was sentenced to 40 months in 2019 for sexually assaulting Smith, and is still on court conditions monitored by Correctional Service Canada until January.

When he was granted statutory release after serving two-thirds of his sentence, the Parole Board of Canada deemed Penney posed "a high risk of imminent domestic violence."

His record includes at least 12 convictions in two provinces dating back to 2007.

In 2018, CBC News interviewed three women abused by Penney. They recounted horrifying instances of beatings and death threats. In one case, he was convicted for holding a box cutter to his girlfriend's throat. In Smith's case, Penney choked her, punched her, and then sexually assaulted her inside her home in Welland, Ont.

Smith now worries he'll be able to escape the notoriety of his birth name.

"I could sleep at night knowing that once he was released, all any person — a woman, a family member, a friend, etc. — could Google 'Adam Budgell' and he could not escape what he had done," Smith said. "I now know he's changed his name, but the rest of the world doesn't."

Who can change their name?

Legislation on name changes is handled at the provincial level, and the rules vary from one province to the next.

Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only provinces where a person on a sex offender registry cannot change their name. Everywhere else, different levels of protection exist.

In Manitoba, for example, it's mandatory for adults to submit their fingerprints with their application. The fingerprints are then provided to the RCMP and run through a database. If there's a hit on the prints, the new name is added to the person's existing profiles.

"Including fingerprinting increases protection for vulnerable persons by ensuring people with criminal records do not use a name change to avoid criminal record checks that identify their records," reads the Manitoba government's website.

Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan also require fingerprints.

New Brunswick and Ontario require a person to submit a criminal record check with their application, but not fingerprints.

Newfoundland and Labrador, where Penney changed his name, has the least stringent rules.

Anyone over the age of 18 who has been a resident of the province for more than three months can change their name without fingerprinting or a criminal record check. They must check a box on the application stating they are applying "in good faith without intention to defraud, mislead or conceal my previous identity for an improper purpose."

All name changes are then published in the provincial government's Newfoundland and Labrador Gazette, and provided to the local police force, according to Digital Government and Service N.L. Minister Sarah Stoodley.

"Changing your name does not allow you to evade the law," she said. "If there's a gap, certainly we would look to fill that, but at the moment I don't see any impact on law enforcement."

Stoodley said barring registered sex offenders from changing their legal names "sounds like a great idea," but she would need to discuss it further with various teams from her department.

Survivor wants to see rules tightened

Police across the country use a singular database, the Canadian Police Information Centre, which registers all known aliases for a person convicted or suspected of a crime.

Since January, Newfoundland and Labrador has published 145 name changes in the Gazette. With that many names being provided to police, Smith worries some could slip through the cracks and not have their new names registered with CPIC.

"I absolutely think it should be addressed," Smith said. "Heaven forbid he should assault another person, punching in his name for a police officer should instantaneously pull that registry. Will it do that with his name change?"

Stoodley says yes, but Smith doesn't think people like Penney should be allowed to change their names at all.

Penney is now living in the St. John's area, according to social media posts, and has recently gotten married.

Smith, meanwhile, lives with the trauma of what he did to her in 2018. She said this latest development has caused her to relive everything again.

"He's revictimized me," she said. "I live every day worried: will I ever be normal again?"

Support is available for anyone affected by intimate partner violence. You can access support services and local resources in Canada by visiting this website. If your situation is urgent, please contact emergency services in your area.

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