Abuser of ‘vulnerable boys’ gets 14 years

A MAN has been jailed for 14 years after he was convicted of a catalogue of sex offences against boys.

Sentencing wheelchair-bound Barry McNulty, 63, at Leeds Crown Court yesterday Judge Scott Wolstenholme said he had taken into account his poor health but the offences spanned a period of 15 years from 1993 to 2009 against three complainants.

Each in their own way was “highly vulnerable” and McNulty, who was much older, exploited their problems.

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The first victim was a lonely youngster. “You befriended him, showered him with material possessions not out of friendship but so you could satisfy your sexual appetites,” the judge said.

Years later, when he finally had the courage to give evidence against McNulty, he was still suffering the emotional trauma he had suffered at his hands.

By then, McNulty had gone on to abuse two further naive youngsters with difficulties, one of whom would visit McNulty’s home attracted by “video games and other temptations”.

“There is absolutely no mitigation in this case, you haven’t demonstrated a shred of remorse for what you have done,” the judge told him.

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McNulty, who lived in Keighley at the time of the offences, was found guilty by a jury on two charges of rape, four of indecent assault, four of sexual assault, three charges of sexual activity with a child, three of inciting a child to sexual activity and two of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

He was found not guilty on two further charges of indecent assault.

The court heard McNulty had been living in a nursing home in Bingley in recent months since being released from hospital after being attacked by an angry relative of one of his victims.

Sarah Barlow, representing McNulty, said he suffered from chronic pulmonary disease and diabetes and, because he was confined to a wheelchair, prison would be particularly difficult for him.