Paedophile goes bankrupt to avoid paying victim £400k Abuse survivor’s plea for tighter rules on damages
It feels like Glass has found a new way to abuse me VICTIM ON PERVERT FAILING TO PAY COMPENSATION
THE victim of a paedophile faces losing £400,000 in compensation after his abuser made himself bankrupt.
David Glass, 59, was jailed for five years in January for a sickening campaign of sex abuse against three young boys.
A court ordered the pervert from Kilrenny, Fife, to hand over money to one victim following a compensation claim.
But earlier this month, it emerged the businessman had sold off properties before declaring himself bankrupt.
Liquidators are seizing available assets but it’s unclear who will be paid and how much.
The devastated survivor now fears being left “out in the cold” and called for legal loopholes to be closed so abusers can’t dodge paying their victims.
He said: “After everything that’s happened, it just feels like Glass has found a new way to abuse me. It makes me sick imagining he’s grinning away in his cell thinking he’s dodged the compensation.
“It makes me wonder how many other victims have suffered the same blow.”
Glass, who had previously been jailed for similar offences committed between 2004 and 2012, was branded a “danger to children” by Dundee sheriff Tom Hughes when he sentenced the pervert to five years in January.
The court had heard that for almost two years in the late 80s, Glass had subjected two boys to repeated sexual abuse at his caravan in the East Neuk of Fife.
The attacks only stopped in 1989 when one of the boys died.
In the mid-90s, Glass sexually abused another boy, then aged between nine and 11. The paedophile was ordered to pay £150,000 in damages to one victim, with interest backdated to when the crimes were first committed – a total of £393,000.
But last month, he filed for bankruptcy claiming his debts totalled £600,000.
His victim said: “If courts have the power to order compensation, don’t they have the power to freeze assets to ensure victims get the compensation?
“Those in charge need to tighten rules so survivors aren’t left out in the cold.”
The victim is pursuing a civil claim in a bid to retrieve damages from Glass.
Kim Leslie, specialist abuse lawyer and partner at Digby Brown Solicitors, said: “Our client has suffered horrendously at the hands of David Glass and was forced to endure decades of emotional torment that followed.
“We are pursuing a civil claim and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”