November 2021 Sex offender walks free from court A paedophile who molested a little boy was spared jail because he is no longer “the same man”. John Brady sexually abused a vulnerable six-year-old child, when he was aged 18, in the 1990s. The young victim suffered psychological damage and has battled depression as a result. But his abuser was then involved in a car crash, which left him with a “life-altering” brain injury, and now lives in “adult foster care”. Judge David Swinnerton said: “The man that stands in front of me is not the man that committed this offence.” Brady, 45, formerly of Bentley Road, Toxteth, but now of Southport, denied four counts of indecency with a child and two counts of indecent assault on a male person, relating to a three-year period. He was found guilty of one count of indecency with a child, but acquitted of all the other allegations after a trial at Liverpool Crown Court. Judge Swinnerton told Brady he was young at the time of the abuse, but his victim was “much younger and therefore vulnerable”. The judge said the boy walked into a room “to discover you were standing there, with the door open, masturbating”. He said: “You asked him ‘if he would like a go’, I quote, and you caused him, persuaded him, to masturbate you.” Judge Swinnerton added: “He had no idea what he was doing, what this was, as a small child, and you told him he would know when he got older. “Well he did of course get older and what you did caused him a great deal of distress and psychological difficulties.” Arthur Gibson, prosecuting, said the now adult man – sitting in the public gallery – didn’t want his victim personal statement read out. Judge Swinnerton said: “It describes his struggles as he’s grown up, this having happened to him, and issues and problems he’s had with depression and the way he’s dealt with that and has struggled to trust people.” The maximum sentence for indecency with a child at the time the offence was committed was two years in prison. Under British law, you cannot receive a sentence greater than you could have received at the time of an offence. Mr Gibson said not long after the abuse, the maximum sentence was increased to 10 years in prison. The equivalent offence today – inciting a child to engage in sexual activity – carries a maximum sentence of 14 years. Some of the victim’s supporters shook their heads as Judge Swinnerton gave Brady 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, with a 30-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and four-month home curfew, from 8pm to 8am daily.