by Keith Hunt

A pervert who sexually abused a young boy more than 20 years ago has been jailed for just 18 months because he had to be sentenced according to "old law".

It means that with time served on remand, Hugh McBride can expect to be released within a month.

The 55-year-old admitted two offences of indecent assault and two of indecency with a child, committed in Medway in late 1989.

The victim kept the "dark secret" until 2010 and in the meantime McBride went on to commit a string of similar offences in Humberside and was jailed in May 1999 for five years.

After his release in 2002, he was deported back to Ireland. When the earlier offences were revealed, he was arrested in May last year and extradited back to the UK.

McBride at first pleaded not guilty to the charges and then sought an indication from Judge Philip Statman as to what the likely sentence would be if he admitted guilt.

The judge refused to give the indication, known as a Goodyear Direction, and allowed the prosecution to put McBride's previous convictions before a jury. Only then did he enter guilty pleas.

The maximum sentence for indecency with a child in 1989 was two years. It has since been increased to a starting point of 13 years.

Judge Statman said he considered those offences as being more serious than the indecent assaults - the maximum sentence for which in 1989 was 10 years.

Hugh McBride was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court

He told McBride, of Stranorlar, Co Donegal: "Had you committed these offences today, I would have been looking at a starting point of somewhere in the region of 13 years, but those particular provisions are not available to me.

"I can't go anywhere near that. I have to sentence you in accordance with the maximum sentence available back in 1989."

The correct starting point for indecency with a child, he said, was 20 months. It was reduced to 18 months to reflect McBride's guilty pleas. He was sentenced to nine months concurrent for the indecent assaults.

Maidstone Crown Court heard he was living in Rainham when he molested the victim, who was aged about eight.

"As he got older he realised how wrong it was," said prosecutor Oliver Dunkin. "He told his partner in 2010 and then his mother. He sought counselling. He eventually reported it to the police."

The victim could only remember the name Hugh, but police were able to discover his full identity.

Judge Statman said of the 1989 victim: "For some 23 ye ars he kept this dark secret of what you had done to him. With the aid of assistance at work and counselling, he felt able to tell his story eventually to the police.

"had you committed these offences today, i would have been looking at a starting point of somewhere in the region of 13 years..." – judge philip statman

"He had as one of the triggers in his mind to report what happened to him as he never wanted the same to befall another child.

"What he didn't know is you went on to commit a string of sexual offences against children throughout the 1990s."

McBride, he said, weighed up very carefully all the options available to him before entering guilty pleas, using the system and the way the law worked to see what advantage he could obtain.

"However, late in the day you did the right thing," Judge Statman added. "It alleviated the suffering of your victim because he did not have to go through the ordeal of all you had done to him in front of 12 members of a jury, who were strangers to him."

McBride himself suffered horrendous sexual abuse as a child and knew "well fine the horror such abuse would cause another child".

After his release from the five-year sentence he went on a rehabilitation course and kept out of trouble. He was now settled in Ireland and being monitored every six weeks by police there.