April 2022

Men abused girls as young as seven 45 times over seven-year period

Four men who repeatedly sexually abused two young girls over a seven-year period have been jailed.

The victims were between the ages of seven and 15 when they were abused by Grant McGill, Brian Parker Derek McBride and Tim Dale between 1996 and 2003.

The four men were found guilty of a combined total of 45 child sexual abuse crimes following a trial at Bristol Crown Court. They have now been sentenced to a combined total of almost 30 years in prison.

The victims – who cannot be named for legal reasons – said their lives have been forever changed by the men’s actions.

The men who hail from Bath, Wrexham and Radstock were all sentenced today

Grant McGill

The 41-year-old, of Radstock, was found guilty of 35 offences of indecent assault and indecency with a child. He was jailed for 16 years and handed a further eight-week sentence after absconding during the trial.

Brian Parker

The 48-year-old, of Wrexham, was convicted of eight offences of indecent assault, indecency with a child and possession of indecent images of children. He was handed a nine-year jail term with an extended licence period of three years.

Derek McBride

The 62-year-old, of Lansdown in Bath, was jailed for two years and six months for four offences of indecency with a child and indecent assault. He admitted the offences in interview and received a reduction in sentence for his early guilty plea.

Tim Dale

The 42-year-old, of Twerton in Bath, was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, for two offences of indecent assault.

Victim Impact Statements from both women were read to the court.

One addressed the effect that it had had on her, saying: “If I see men with children … I feel certain those children are being hurt and I feel powerless to stop it. If I hear children crying from another house, my imagination goes through the roof.”

She thanked the jury for “hearing me and helping me begin this road to recovery”.

The second woman told the men: “What you have done will never be okay, it will never be fixed. This isn’t something that ‘sorry’ makes all better. Our lives are forever impacted by your actions and your choices toward us. I can only be thankful that you can’t hurt anyone now and I hope that this experience and outcome has taught you something valuable – that your actions have consequences and you have no control over us. We are now stronger than we have ever been.”

In sentencing His Honour Judge Mark Horton commented that the men had all targeted young girls who they knew to be vulnerable and unlikely to report the abuse or get support from anyone who should have been there to protect them. He said both women would be living with lifelong feelings of betrayal.

He found Parker to be a dangerous offender who was predatory, calculated and manipulative and had shown no remorse whatsoever. Finding him to pose a significant risk of physical, sexual and emotional harm to young people he directed that he should not be released from prison until assessed by a parole board as no longer being a risk.