Hugh Gerard Bradley jailed for five years at Derry Crown Court
The BBC has reported that Hugh Gerard Bradley, who is originally from Derry but now with an address at Willow Crescent in Ballykelly, admitted a total of 11 offences over a five year period, starting in 1983.
Judge Elizabeth McCaffrey described the abuse as “calculated, opportunistic, grave and prolonged”.
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.
the judge 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 for sentencing his 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.
Bradley was placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period
He has also been banned for an indefinite period from working with children and vulnerable adults.
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