Halloween child abuser who wrecked lives is jailed for 12 years
A HALLOWEEN-loving pervert who sexually abused multiple young girls has been jailed.
Billy Bradshaw devastated the lives of his five victims by assaulting them in a string of attacks that spanned years.
The 31-year-old’s offending, which began when he was a teenager, was exposed when two girls told the police he had assaulted them in 2019.
Following this, three other victims bravely came forward alleging he had committed similar offences to them when they were children.
Bradshaw, of no fixed abode, and a father of four, had denied the offences and took the matter to trial, cruelly forcing his victims to relive their experiences in the courtroom.
Despite his denials, a jury at Derby Crown Court took just an hour-anda-half to find him guilty of all offences. A number of his victims were in court to bravely face their attacker as he was imprisoned for more than a decade for his crimes on Friday.
Barnaby Shaw, prosecuting, described the devastating impact on his victims through their impact statements in court.
One said how she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered from anxiety and depression as a result.
She said “I just wanted him to tell the truth about what happened. [When I found he pleaded not guilty] it broke me. I wanted him to tell the truth. I want a normal life, I feel this is unlikely to happen because of what he did to me.”
Another victim said how she hated things that reminded her of him including alcohol, menthol and Halloween – a seasonal event he liked so much he had a Halloween-themed wedding.
She said: “I became depressed and would feel unworthy. It has had a devastating effect on my family. I see the pain in my mum’s eyes feeling she didn’t protect me enough and the anger in my father’s.”
Another of his victims said she missed the person she used to be before the incident.
She said: “After what happened to me I couldn’t bear living in my own skin. I tried to take my own life because of what happened. I try to cut the pain physically from my skin. I don’t like the way my body feels. I have outbursts of rage which I cannot control.
“I hope one day I may be able to live some kind of normal life. I want to be the person I was before all this happened and not as I am now.”
All victims said they no longer trusted men and could not stand physical contact such as hugging or people touching them.
Bradshaw was found guilty of three counts of indecent assault of a girl under 16, three counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, one count of sexual assault of a child under 13 and one count of causing/inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
Ian Way, defence counsel for Bradshaw, said he could offer “no real mitigation” for the offending, but added his client had health problems including depression, anxiety and gout.
He said: “He will know that by having a trial he is deprived of any discount or credit. What perhaps is the most significant factor for him. He is the father of four young boys, he won’t be seeing them or having contact with them for a considerable time. The sentence is inevitably one of custody measured in years, not months. There’s precious little else I can say.”
Recorder Adrian Reynolds said Bradshaw’s offending was despicable.
“You showed no compassion for them [his victims], I will give none to you because you don’t deserve it.
“If I passed the sentences that your individual offending merited and made them consecutive, tempting as that might be, the overall sentence would be disproportionate. That may be difficult for your victims to understand.”
Describing his actions as “appalling”, Recorder Reynolds said he had torn apart the lives of his victims.
He added that one the victims movingly said how “her dignity and soul were robbed by what you did” and that another had tried to take her own life.
He jailed Bradshaw for a total of 12 years, with an extended licence period of an additional year.
He also ordered that he sign the sex offenders’ register for life and imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further order.