A man who bragged about making young Thai girls ‘do anything’ has admitted sexually abusing children much closer to home.
Merchant Seaman Stuart Bull was investigated by police after a woman walked into a Bristol police station to report the abuser who had ruined her life.
As a result Bull, now 55 and living at Avonsmere Residential Park in Stoke Gifford, was to face trial for historical sex offences.
But, on the first day of the planned hearing, he pleaded guilty to two indecent assaults and one rape of one girl aged 13 or 14.
He also admitted three indecent assaults and rape of a second girl aged 11 and indecent assault of a third girl aged 13 or 14.
Bull abused youngsters while on leave
Bristol Crown Court heard Bull abused youngsters when on shore leave, aged in his late teens.
One of his victims said he’d bragged about being able to go to Thailand and getting young girls there to ‘do anything’.
After touching the first complainant intimately he went on to rape her, the court heard.
He made the second complainant perform a sex act on him before touching her intimately and raping her.
And, when he was a young man, he touched the third complainant intimately.
‘Why me, what had I done wrong?’
The victims – who cannot be named to protect their anonymity – penned statements outlining the consequences of Bull’s hideous treatment and the impact it had had on them.
One of Bull’s victims described him as a “blue-eyed boy” who she thought he would be believed over her, saying that at the time she was a child with low self-esteem.
Speaking of the ongoing trauma, one wrote: “When I spoke about it, it was like I was still there.
“The feelings, the words, the smells.
“The police were brilliant but it definitely led to a raising of my anxiety.”
Another said: “I had feelings of confusion.
“I thought ‘why me, what had I done wrong?’.”
Giles Nelson, mitigating, said: “The offences are very serious.
“It is hard to argue against the serious psychological harm.
“The defendant acknowledges that.”
Jailed
At Bristol Crown Court on Monday (June 2) Judge Martin Picton jailed him for 16 years and two months.
He described Bull’s offending as ‘very serious’ and added: “The impact of the crimes you committed has been grave and your victims bear the scars resulting from your abuse of them to this day.
“I am sure they will continue to do so for the rest of their lives.
“The degree of harm that you have caused those you mistreated is exceptional, even in the context of case of this nature.”
