After a Met investigation, a Walthamstow man, Bradley Dilsworth, was given a 31-year term for sexually abusing children.
Other possible victim-survivors have been urged to come forward by investigators.
After being found guilty in May of multiple non-recent sexual offences against minors, a former foster carer from Walthamstow was given a 31-year prison sentence. Following a thorough Met investigation in which specialised officers assisted the courageous victim-survivors who reported him, he was found guilty.
On Thursday, May 21, Bradley Dilsworth, 69 (15.03.1957) of Phoenix Close, Walthamstow, was found guilty of 22 counts of child sex offences at Snaresbrook Crown Court. He was found guilty of crimes against five victims, one of whom was as young as seven.
Between 2002 and 2009, Bradley Dilsworth committed many crimes against people who were between the ages of seven and sixteen. He frequently took advantage of his standing as a respected adult in the Walthamstow neighbourhood by portraying himself as an amiable and personable neighbour, according to evidence given in court.
The court was informed that Dilsworth would bring kids to his house after school so they could consume wine and smoke. This setting was purposefully created to decrease their inhibitions and provide abuse possibilities.
Dilsworth’s deception of one victim, who thought she was in a real relationship with him, was one particularly noteworthy feature of the case. When she first met Dilsworth at the age of 13, she didn’t realise she had been a victim until much later in life.
A seven-year-old girl who was staying at Dilsworth’s home with her parents at the time was the victim of another crime.
Dilsworth defended himself by saying that the kids who visited his house were actually seeing his son, who was about their age. The jury, however, rejected this interpretation, concluding that the evidence showed a definite pattern of abuse and grooming.
Dilsworth was a registered foster carer prior to his offence, and it is known that he fostered two children in the 1980s.
At Isleworth Crown Court on Friday, June 26, Dilsworth received a 31-year prison sentence for the following offences:
- Two counts of sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 between 2002 and 2004, relating to Victim A
- Two counts of indecency with a girl between 2002 and 2004, relating to Victim A
- Two counts of rape of a girl under 13 between 2004 and 2005, relating to Victim A
- Five charges of rape of Victim A, a girl between the ages of 13 and 15, between 2004 and 2007
- One count pertaining to Victim A of planning or assisting in the commission of a child sex crime between 2005 and 2006
- One count of attempting to plan or assist in the commission of a child sex crime involving Victim A between 2005 and 2007
- A girl between the ages of 13 and 15 was raped four times between 2005 and 2007 in connection with Victim B
- One instance of a girl between the ages of 13 and 15 being sexually assaulted by penetration between 2006 and 2008, involving Victim C
- One instance of a girl between the ages of 13 and 15 being raped between 2006 and 2008, involving Victim C
- One instance of a girl under the age of thirteen being raped between 2008 and 2010, involving Victim D
- One instance of photographing youngsters in an inappropriate manner under Category A
- One instance of photographing youngsters in a Category C obscene manner
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