A grandfather accused of orchestrating a campaign of abuse against young girls ‘groomed and abused his victims’ before allegedly offering them to his own sons, a court heard.
Bradley Dilsworth, 68, is said to have preyed on vulnerable children as young as seven over an eight-year period from 2002-2010, in what prosecutors describe as a deeply disturbing pattern of offending.
The pensioner, now wheelchair-bound, denies all 27 charges against him, including 17 of rape, five of sexual assault by penetration and two of taking indecent photographs of children.
He is also accused of a grooming offence in which he arranged for his son Bradley Quinton, 45, to rape one of the girls.
Dilsworth also allegedly attempted to arrange for another son, Daniel, now 36, to have sex with the same alleged victim but he refused and will now give evidence against his father.
Quinton, from Walthamstow, denies one count of attempted rape, while a third man, Nathan ‘Hamish’ McCarthy, 56, of Harlow, Essex, denies one charge of rape.
Dilsworth, a member of the Enfield Model Flying club, was arrested on November 21, 2024.
Police seized his desktop computer at his home allegedly containing 16,000 images of another girl, over 200 of which were taken when she was just 16, the court heard.
At the start of the five week trial Judge Edward Franklin told jurors: ‘This case concerns sexual misconduct over an eight-year period between 2002 and 2010.’
He urged members of the jury to ‘keep a cool head’, adding: ‘It is easy to feel indignant. These are particularly normal emotions.
‘But they don’t help you to decide whether the prosecution has proved its case. You must review the evidence you hear dispassionately.’
Dilsworth was allowed to remain seated as the charges were read out after the judge was told he has high blood sugar and needs to take medication during the trial.
Dianna Wilson, prosecuting, said: ‘The three defendants are here, because the prosecution alleges, that Mr Dilsworth groomed and abused four young girls between 2002 and 2010.
‘He offered one of these girls to Mr McCarthy and vaginally raped her while Mr McCarthy orally raped her simultaneously.
‘She was also raped, or attempted to be raped, by Mr Quinton when he was living at his father’s house, and knew how vulnerable she was.’
The first alleged victim was targeted when she was as young as ten in 2002, said the prosecutor.
‘She remembers being introduced to Bradley junior and Daniel and they went around and met the defendant who she describes as Big Brad or Brad.’
‘She remembers going around for dinner and staying around there. She says she was drugged the first time with some blue liquor which may just have been alcohol.
‘She told her mother what had happened and her mother seemed unbothered. She says after that her mother, who is not a witness in this case, basically pimped her out.’
The victim returned a week later, after which point rape became ‘normalised’ and this continued until she was 14 or 15, jurors were told.
‘She says she just normalised it – she used to beg him not to do it,’ Ms Wilson added.
Jurors were told they will hear from six prosecution witnesses including Daniel Dilsworth and another person who told police of the allegations as early as 2006, but no charges were brought at the time.
Police arrested Dilsworth at his home on November 21, 2024, and seized a desktop computer containing 16,000 images of one of the alleged victims.
He made no reply to caution and refused a duty solicitor during his police interview when he said he knew the three of the girls but denied allegations of rape and grooming, saying they ‘did not happen.’
Dilsworth was arrested again on April 3 last year.
Ms Wilson added: ‘He denied all the offences in the interview and stated that they did not happen.
‘He denied any grooming or rapes.’
On the same day police also arrested Quinton, who was made aware of allegations against his father back in November 2024 when he was first arrested.
He gave a prepared statement denying the allegations, adding: ‘I wish it to be known that I have no knowledge of any rape and I deny this allegation wholeheartedly. ‘
Ms Wilson added: ‘When the tapes ended, he said: “This is all some completely jumped up bulls***”.’
The trial continues.
