Myles Bradbury victim: 'I won't let abuse by doctor affect my entire life'

Myles Bradbury was jailed nearly a decade ago for abusing patients in his care at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

But, for his victims, their battle for justice did not end with his sentencing.

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) has revealed it has paid out more than £1.3m in compensation to 39 victims.

One of those who recently received a pay-out is Aaron Parsons - and he says he remains determined to get over the abuse.

He says: "I'm not going to let it affect my entire life - if I let that happen, I let him still have that power and he shouldn't have that power, he doesn't deserve it."

As a child patient under the care of Bradbury, Mr Parsons had no idea at the time that he was one of the doctor's victims.

Mr Parsons, who has waived his right to anonymity, was only nine then and had been seeing Bradbury for check-ups relating to his leukaemia diagnosis at the age of two.

Now 21, Mr Parsons says it was not until he got older that he realised Bradbury's behaviour had been inappropriate and he too was one of his victims.

"In some cases, you hear that a child's been told to keep quiet about something or that's 'it's OK, it's a game, or something' but it wasn't anything like that, you assumed it was a medical procedure.

"He explained it away with medical terms and it made sense at the time because you're not going to challenge the doctor because he has all authority in that room," he says.

"There was no challenging of it, even though it might have felt uncomfortable, due to the nature of it, it was argued away in my own head that it's a doctor, it must be necessary."

Bradbury, of Herringswell, Suffolk, admitted 25 offences against 18 victims, including sexual assault, voyeurism and possessing more than 16,000 indecent images.

He was sentenced in 2014 to 22 years in prison, which was later reduced to 16, with an additional six years on licence, on appeal.

The abuse occurred over a four-year period between 2009 and 2013 while Bradbury was working as a consultant.

At the time of his sentencing, it was heard he would use a spy pen to take pictures of his victims and carry out "examinations purely for his own sexual gratification and with no medical justification".

It was as an adult that Mr Parsons, from Cambridgeshire, realised the checks Bradbury was supposedly making to ensure there were no complications from his chemotherapy when he reached puberty "clearly weren't right".

It had emerged Bradbury used excessive puberty checks as an excuse to assault patients.

"He was a blood specialist. I feel that there would have been different, hormonal ways to check for puberty, rather than a physical way," he said.

Mr Parsons says he felt "disgusted and betrayed" by what happened.

"That position of power, being a doctor and being able to abuse that, it exacerbates the pain you feel from it.

"It's affected me a lot, more than I realised. It makes me feel gross," he says.

Sources: General Medical Council, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and BBC

Mr Parsons says he also feels "sadness" for all of Bradbury's victims, for whom "it will also have long-lasting effects for the rest of their lives".

He says he hoped by speaking out, further victims would come forward.

Mr Parsons, who was represented by solicitor Samantha Robson, received a £50,000 pay-out from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH), while his mum was compensated a further £4,500.

But he says: "The money is arbitrary, some people think I am so lucky to have the money but if I could give the money back and never have had to deal with what happened, I would."

He says he does not feel he has "closure" yet. "But I want to get there," he adds.

Meanwhile, he says he is determined to not let the abuse he was subjected to to affect his future.

"I'm not going to act like it's destroyed my life. There are aspects of my life that it has negatively affected, but I've got goals in life I want to work towards and I feel that my past should not affect those.

"I am happy with my life now."

CUH told the BBC it has paid out £1,327,150 to 39 victims, both male and female, of Bradbury.

It says it has continued to support the victims of Bradbury and "sensitively deal with their legal claims".

"We would like to apologise again to those affected by Bradbury's sickening and abhorrent abuse.

"He manipulated safety procedures to harm those in his care and broke the trust of his patients, their families and his colleagues in the NHS," a spokesperson added.