April 2016 Mum’s shock as man who sexually ‘experimented’ on boy walks free A MOTHER has spoken of her shock after a man who used her seven-year-old son for sexual “experimentation” walked free from court. Frederick Daly, 22, abused the boy in Hull eight years ago, when he was 14. The youngster reported it at the time and Daly was interviewed but not then prosecuted. He was found guilty at a retrial at Hull Crown Court in March of sexual assault on a child under 13, two counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, and causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity. Sentencing Daly yesterday, Judge Simon Jack accepted submissions it was right to sentence him as a 14-year-old. He also accepted a defence submission that Daly was experimenting at the time. Sentencing Daly to nine months in jail, suspended for two years, the judge told him: “I take the view, as Mr [Michael] Bosomworth suggests, that this was experimentation as you had doubts about your sexuality. “[The boy] was the unfortunate victim of that experimentation.” Speaking outside court, the victim’s mother, who attended the hearing, said: “I wish I hadn’t gone to court. “For the judge to say that, it’s almost as if he’s making out my son is an experimental guinea pig, or a rat or a mouse. “He’s not. He’s human, he’s a little boy. “He walks free from court and my son and my family have got a life sentence for what he did.” Mr Bosomworth said Daly, now of Streatley Road, Brent, London, describes himself as bisexual. “This is not someone who is attracted in a paedophile sense to young boys,” Mr Bosomworth said. Statements from the victim and his mother detailing the harrowing impact of Daly’s crimes were read to the court. The victim said: “Growing up in this country, I used to feel safe because of the law, which enforces human rights. “However, my right to freedom from degrading treatment has been taken from me, making me feel worthless compared to everyone else.” His mother said in an “extensive” statement: “My son’s childhood has gone, not even a distant memory. “Any happy memories of his childhood are tarnished by the flashbacks to those horrific events that plague him and are constantly in his thoughts.” Daly was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work, must sign the sex offenders register, and was made subject to a restraining order. Judge Jack said of the delay in prosecuting him: “It is regrettable, in my view, that this case was not proceeded with eight years ago when the original allegations were made and the defendant was interviewed by police. “At the time, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service took a rather different view from the view taken today, and frequently cases involving unsupported allegations from a child were not pursued. “A different view is taken today.”