Cambridge, UK
A children’s doctor who admitted abusing boys in his care escaped detection for more than four years because parents trusted and respected him, a court has heard.
Dr Myles Bradbury was remanded in custody on Friday after being warned by Judge Gareth Hawkesworth that he faces a substantial prison sentence on Monday. He admitted carrying out examinations on children “purely for his own sexual gratification” and with no medical justification.
His 18 victims, aged between 10 and 16, included children with haemophilia, leukaemia and other serious illnesses, Cambridge crown court heard.
The married 41-year-old father-of-one, who worked at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge and lived in Herringswell, Suffolk, has pleaded guilty to 25 offences including sexual assault, voyeurism and possessing more than 16,000 indecent images.
Prosecutor John Farmer said cancer specialist Bradbury had a “longstanding, unlawful, sexual interest in boys” and on occasions had abused boys behind a curtain while their parents were in the room.
Farmer said the offences were a “grave breach of trust” which had undermined the trust of patients in his profession.
“This defendant was a complete maverick and his behaviour is the antithesis of his profession – he has betrayed his profession,” he added.
Bradbury, who, the court heard, was also involved in church and Scout groups, was described as “a man of great charm and persuasiveness” whom everybody trusted. When one victim raised concerns with his mother, she responded: “He’s a doctor, it must be necessary.”
The parents of one boy were so grateful for his treatment that they remarked they might organise a ball in his honour and give him an award.
Farmer said: “That was the very image that really protected him from anything other than the most persistent line of complaint.”
He added: “It was in these circumstance under the guise of legitimate examinations he went entirely beyond the bounds.
“He took the opportunity of fondling the boy’s genitals and encouraging them to masturbate in his presence and obtain erections for his own personal gratification.
“On some occasions, when he failed to exclude the parent, he simply carried on behind the curtain behind which the boy had gone to remove his clothes.”
The prosecutor said Bradbury’s familiar routine involved isolating boys from their parents, asking them to remove their clothes and then groping their genitals.
One victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said in a statement read to the court: “I am now anxious to go to the doctor because I don’t know who I should trust.
“I have haemophilia and a pain in my side so I know I should go but I feel disgusted and weird.
“I didn’t think it would happen to me and I feel angry every time I think about it but also relieved it wasn’t just me, but we shouldn’t have to go through it.”
Another said he had regular nightmares, felt stressed and lacked confidence.
“I’d like to see Myles Bradbury and ask him why he did what he did to me,” he added.
The offences took place over four-and-a-half years, beginning within six months of him taking up his post in 2008 and continuing to the day he was suspended when the first concerns were raised.
At some point, he began using a camera pen in an attempt to gain images of the boys when partially clothed, Farmer added. Police found 170,425 images on this pen but none of these were classed as indecent. Farmer said Bradbury was first arrested in December 2013 after police were alerted by Canadian authorities that he had bought a DVD containing indecent images of children as part of Operation Spade.
At that point Cambridgeshire police were already investigating after concerns were raised about his conduct.
Bradbury looked anxious as he sat in the dock wearing a dark suit and blue tie.
In mitigation, Bradbury’s barrister, Angela Rafferty, said his guilty pleas had spared his victims the ordeal of giving evidence in court.
She added: “Clearly on a human level something has gone very badly wrong in this man’s life and thought processes.”
Rafferty added that he accepted what he did was repugnant.
“He knows he will not get any understanding or forgiveness because what he did was unforgivable,” she said.
“His medical life may have done some good at some time but that means nothing now. He accepts that that was the life which allowed him to commit those offences.”
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| Dr Myles Bradbury leaves Cambridge crown court, where he has pleaded guilty to 25 offences including sexual assault. |
Dr Myles Bradbury was remanded in custody on Friday after being warned by Judge Gareth Hawkesworth that he faces a substantial prison sentence on Monday. He admitted carrying out examinations on children “purely for his own sexual gratification” and with no medical justification.
His 18 victims, aged between 10 and 16, included children with haemophilia, leukaemia and other serious illnesses, Cambridge crown court heard.
The married 41-year-old father-of-one, who worked at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge and lived in Herringswell, Suffolk, has pleaded guilty to 25 offences including sexual assault, voyeurism and possessing more than 16,000 indecent images.
Prosecutor John Farmer said cancer specialist Bradbury had a “longstanding, unlawful, sexual interest in boys” and on occasions had abused boys behind a curtain while their parents were in the room.
Farmer said the offences were a “grave breach of trust” which had undermined the trust of patients in his profession.
“This defendant was a complete maverick and his behaviour is the antithesis of his profession – he has betrayed his profession,” he added.
Bradbury, who, the court heard, was also involved in church and Scout groups, was described as “a man of great charm and persuasiveness” whom everybody trusted. When one victim raised concerns with his mother, she responded: “He’s a doctor, it must be necessary.”
The parents of one boy were so grateful for his treatment that they remarked they might organise a ball in his honour and give him an award.
Farmer said: “That was the very image that really protected him from anything other than the most persistent line of complaint.”
He added: “It was in these circumstance under the guise of legitimate examinations he went entirely beyond the bounds.
“He took the opportunity of fondling the boy’s genitals and encouraging them to masturbate in his presence and obtain erections for his own personal gratification.
“On some occasions, when he failed to exclude the parent, he simply carried on behind the curtain behind which the boy had gone to remove his clothes.”
The prosecutor said Bradbury’s familiar routine involved isolating boys from their parents, asking them to remove their clothes and then groping their genitals.
One victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said in a statement read to the court: “I am now anxious to go to the doctor because I don’t know who I should trust.
“I have haemophilia and a pain in my side so I know I should go but I feel disgusted and weird.
“I didn’t think it would happen to me and I feel angry every time I think about it but also relieved it wasn’t just me, but we shouldn’t have to go through it.”
Another said he had regular nightmares, felt stressed and lacked confidence.
“I’d like to see Myles Bradbury and ask him why he did what he did to me,” he added.
The offences took place over four-and-a-half years, beginning within six months of him taking up his post in 2008 and continuing to the day he was suspended when the first concerns were raised.
At some point, he began using a camera pen in an attempt to gain images of the boys when partially clothed, Farmer added. Police found 170,425 images on this pen but none of these were classed as indecent. Farmer said Bradbury was first arrested in December 2013 after police were alerted by Canadian authorities that he had bought a DVD containing indecent images of children as part of Operation Spade.
At that point Cambridgeshire police were already investigating after concerns were raised about his conduct.
Bradbury looked anxious as he sat in the dock wearing a dark suit and blue tie.
In mitigation, Bradbury’s barrister, Angela Rafferty, said his guilty pleas had spared his victims the ordeal of giving evidence in court.
She added: “Clearly on a human level something has gone very badly wrong in this man’s life and thought processes.”
Rafferty added that he accepted what he did was repugnant.
“He knows he will not get any understanding or forgiveness because what he did was unforgivable,” she said.
“His medical life may have done some good at some time but that means nothing now. He accepts that that was the life which allowed him to commit those offences.”
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