Paedophile doctor with links to Peterborough church jailed

By Stephen Briggs
Peterborough Telegraph
December 1, 2014

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/local/paedophile-doctor-with-links-to-peterborough-church-jailed-1-6448639

Dr Myles Bradbury

Monday 11.30am: A doctor with links to a large Peterborough church has been jailed for 22 years for sexually abusing young boys in his care.

Myles Bradbury, (41), was part of a 15-strong group that went to Swaziland to help orphaned children in 2012 with the Kingsgate Church, based in Staplee Way, Parnwell, Peterborough.

Today Bradbury was jailed at Cambridge Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to 25 charges against a total of 18 victims he treated at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. The victims ranged in age from eight to 17 and suffered from illnesses including cancer and blood disorders.

The African trip came at the same time that Bradbury was abusing the vulnerable boys at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

Police said they had no evidence to suggest Bradbury offended on the trip to Bulembu but others on the team he was with said he was left alone with the orphans.

Each volunteer was allowed to be alone with up to six children in the afternoons for two to three hours.

Kingsgate Church said: “We are shocked and deeply saddened at the actions of Dr Myles Bradbury and at the devastating impact that these have had on the lives of many.

“As soon as the charges against him were revealed in early July 2014 we promptly contacted Bulembu.

“Bulembu then instituted a detailed investigation to make sure that he had not had any one-to-one contact with children during that time.

“They found no evidence that he had any unsupervised involvement with children and was always accompanied by community development project staff.”

Dr Keith McNeil, chief executive of Cambridge University Hospitals, said: “Our thoughts today are with our patients and families who were victims of Bradbury’s shocking and cynical abuse. Today’s sentencing of Bradbury cannot undo the damage he caused but he is finally behind bars and is no longer a risk to vulnerable children. The lengthy sentence shows Bradbury’s abhorrent betrayal and manipulation of his position as a doctor has been fully recognised.”

Bradbury was jailed and placed on the sex offenders register for life and also made subject of a sexual offences prevention order for life.

Detective Superintendent Gary Ridgway said: “This case has understandably caused distress to many people.

“Bradbury was highly respected and revered by the families of his victims who trusted him implicitly.

“But he betrayed that trust in an appalling way, by carrying out examinations purely for his own sexual gratification.

“The investigation into his crimes was complex and challenging, and I want to acknowledge the support provided by Cambridge University Hospitals in order to gather the evidence to bring this case to court.

“I would also like to pay tribute to the victims and their families who have shown great bravery in coming forward and ensuring Bradbury was held to account.”

Bradbury, of The Street, Herringswell, Bury St Edmunds, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a boy aged 13 to 15, seven counts of sexually assaulting a boy under 13 by touching, three counts of causing or inciting a boy aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity, one count of voyeurism - recording a private act and two counts of making an indecent photograph of a child.

The offences, all against boys, took place between 2009 and 2013.

More than 16,000 indecent images of children were also found on a disk in Bradbury’s Suffolk home.

Bradbury was suspended by the NHS in November

last year after a victim spoke to a member of his family about what had happened. Police were notified and he was arrested in December.

Michelle Brown, head of the CPS East of England’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit (RASSO), said: “This paedophile doctor took advantage of his young patients battling serious illness by systematically sexually abusing them. Such cruelty is unimaginable to most of us.

“The extent of that abuse and the number of victims – 18 – was a gross breach of the trust placed in Myles Bradbury and one of the worst cases of this kind that we have prosecuted.”