Abuser jailed for five years in Derry

Derry Courthouse
A fifty-nine years old man who admitted sexually abusing two boys thirty-five years ago, has been jailed for five years at Derry Crown Court.
Hugh Gerard Bradley, who is originally from Derry but whose address was given as Willow Crescent in Ballykelly, had pleaded guilty to abusing the two boys over a four year to five period starting in 1983.
One of his victims was aged eight when Bradley started abusing him and the second victim was aged in his mid teens when the abuse was perpetrated against him.
The Court was previously told that Bradley was already a convicted child sex abuser. In 1991 he was jailed for seven years for abusing three other children.
Judge Elizabeth McCaffrey described Bradley’s sexual offending as calculated, opportunistic, grave and prolonged. She said the offending took place in the victims’ homes, in Bradley’s house and at outdoor locations such as football pitches, behind trees, allotments and in greenhouses.
Judge McCaffrey said one of Bradley’s victims was, at the time of the abuse, a promising young footballer who had ambitions to become a professional player. On one occasion after Bradley had abused him, Bradley threatened to break his legs if he ever reported the abuse to the authorities. He then gave his young victim fifty pence.
As well as jailing Bradley for five years, Judge McCaffrey additionally placed him on the Sex Offender’s Register for an indefinite period and further disqualified him from working with children and vulnerable adults, also for an indefinite period.

  • Full report with more detail below.

 
 
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A fifty-nine years old man who admitted sexually abusing two boys thirty-five years ago, has been jailed for five years at Derry Crown Court.
Hugh Gerard Bradley, who is originally from Derry but whose address was given as Willow Crescent in Ballykelly, had pleaded guilty to abusing the two boys over a four year to five period starting in 1983.
One of his victims was aged eight when Bradley started abusing him and the second victim was aged in his mid teens when the abuse was perpetrated against him.
The Court was previously told that Bradley was already a convicted child sex abuser. In 1991 he was jailed for seven years for abusing three other children, one of whom was a fourteen years old blind and deaf boy, in  1989. One of Bradley’s victims in that case is a brother of one of the two victims he had abused earlier in the 1980s.
Judge Elizabeth McCaffrey described Bradley’s sexual offending as calculated, opportunistic, grave and prolonged. She said the offending took place in the victims’ homes, in Bradley’s house and at outdoor locations such as football pitches, behind trees, allotments and in greenhouses.
Bradley admitted a total of eleven offences which included indecent touching, masturbation and oral sex.
Judge McCaffrey said one of Bradley’s victims was, at the time of the abuse, a promising young footballer who had ambitions to become a professional player. On one occasion after Bradley had abused him, Bradley threatened to break his legs if he ever reported the abuse to the authorities. He then gave his young victim fifty pence.
Judge McCaffrey said when Bradley was arrested and questioned about the allegations in 2016 he described them as rubbish and pay back. On the morning of his trial last June he was re-arraigned and admitted the allegations. Judge McCaffrey said she took into consideration in terms of sentencing that Bradley’s guilty pleas meant his two victims did not have to undergo the ordeal of giving evidence in open court.
She said one of Bradley’s victims was abused sometimes up to three time a week. The victim started to wear football shorts which he tied tightly around his waist in an effort to prevent Bradley from sexually assaulting him.
Judge McCaffrey said it was clear that Bradley’s offending had impacted detrimentally on his two victims, one of whom questioned his own sexuality as a result of the abuse he’d suffered. She said she was aware that Bradley’s mental health had suffered “due to community intimidation due to people becoming aware of his previous convictions” and that Bradley now lived an isolated life. Judge McCaffrey told Bradley that his offending had caused psychological damage to his two victims and had clearly passed the custody threshold.
As well as jailing Bradley for five years, Judge McCaffrey additionally placed him on the Sex Offender’s Register for an indefinite period and further disqualified him from working with children and vulnerable adults, also for an indefinite period.

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