A BRADFORD man convicted at trial of historic child abuse could die in prison.Brian Symonds, 67, was found guilty of grooming two children and indecently assaulting them.Sentencing Symonds to 16 years' imprisonment plus a further year on licence, Mr Recorder Gurdial Singh said: “Your abuse had a devastating effect on them.”It emerged during Symonds’ five-day trial that he had previous convictions for sexually assaulting children as young as five dating as far back as 1979.Bradford Crown Court heard that Symonds’ more recent crimes came to light when one of the victims, now an adult, made a complaint in 2019.In a statement read to the court, one of the victims said they had endured “a life sentence” and had suffered with deep shame and had even blamed themself for Symonds’ abuse.The victim said the abuse still caused emotional pain and they suppressed the traumatic memories and knowledge of what had happened until suffering from anxiety and depression.Symonds, of Whitaker Avenue, Bradford, is now a registered sex offender for life and has been made the subject of a lifelong sexual harm prevention order.He will serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody before being referred to the parole board and will serve the remainder on conditional licence.Addressing the victims, who were in court, Recorder Singh said: “Thank you both for having the courage to come forward and for giving evidence.“I appreciate that no sentence can give you back what you have lost.”The detective in charge of the case stated, “Symonds took to the stand in court and showed no remorse or guilt, denying that he’d done anything wrong. We welcome today’s significant sentence. This shows how abhorrent his offending was. He is a danger to children.”