Shropshire Star

Ex-pupil still haunted by cruel Telford paedophile

A victim of paedophile Bruce Gracie today described how his life had been ruined by a man he trusted as his teacher.

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Gracie was last week sentenced to 11 years in jail for sexually abusing teenage boys over a 22-year period.

But while the disgraced PE and gymnastics teacher has finally received a punishment, the effects of his crimes on his victims do not end with a jail term for their abuser.

Paul, not his real name, attended a school in Telford where Gracie worked in the early 1980s.

Now living on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border, he said he was still traumatised by his experiences 35 years on.

The disgraced former Telford PE and gymnastics coach

was described by a judge at Warwick Crown Court as a "persistent and determined paedophile". He abused children at schools in Warwickshire, Essex and Telford during his career.

Paul said: "My life has been ruined by Gracie, I still can't move on. I was a normal, healthy, well-adjusted 13 year-old boy when I first met Gracie, who was the PE teacher at my school.

"He had a reputation for dispensing physical punishment as a matter of course. He was a bully – but in addition to that he also sexually assaulted pupils.

"He set up a gymnastics team at the school and over the years I believe he abused 99 per cent of the members of it – that's several hundred boys.

Paul, now 48, said that Gracie always followed the same approach when selecting a victim and his targets were always boys aged 13 to 15.

He said: "Gracie took advantage of us when we were vulnerable and as injuries happened frequently when we trained, that's when he would strike.

"If you got hurt he would rush over to you in seconds, then he would take you into the changing room saying he needed to check you over.

"He would always lock the door behind him and when that first happened I didn't think much of it, but I soon understood what that locked door meant and that was when the abuse would start."

But even though he did this to so many boys, none of them felt they could do any-thing about it or talk to anyone about it.

He said: "Nowadays pupils are listened to, but back then it was different; we were pupils, he was the teacher and he had all the power. I didn't tell my parents, I couldn't tell them. I was so ashamed and angry and the things Gracie did to me changed me as a person.

"I became a very angry young man and it set me on the path to having a problematic adult life. I have been married three times and blame a lot of my marriage difficulties on what Gracie did."

Paul said that he became increasingly violent and left home as soon as he was 16 because he was angry with himself – but mostly with his parents. He felt they should have known what was going on, even though as a father himself now Paul understands his own parents were blameless.

He said: "It has made me suspicious of everyone, especially teachers. When my son asked to stay behind at school to help a teacher I immediately thought 'what is that teacher up to?'"

"My wife couldn't understand why I was so against my son doing anything after school, but she finally understood when I told her about Gracie a couple of years ago.

"My wife has been incredible through all of this and I don't know what I would have done without her."

That revelation to his wife came about after Gracie approached Paul three years ago to be a character witness for him, as he was facing charges of physically assaulting pupils.

He said: "I couldn't believe he had contacted me to speak up on his behalf and it proved to me that he has no idea that what he did to me was wrong.

"I actually met him, even had him at my house, which people may think was crazy – but I needed to look him in the eye and for him to tell me he was sorry.

"The assault case grew and then the paedophile charges came and in the end I was the one who drove him to court on the day he was sentenced.

"Why did I do that? Because Gracie escaped justice for decades and also made repeated excuses for why he couldn't attend court when the charges finally came.

"I knew the only way to make sure he was in court was to take him there myself."

He added: "Although I am 20 years younger than him, taller and stronger, I still felt fear when I was sat in the car with him."

Paul was happy to see Gracie sentenced, but had hoped when that happened the awful weight he had carried since he was a teenager would lift. But he doesn't feel any different and the past still haunts him.

He said: "Perhaps it would have helped if he had shown some remorse and understanding for the devastation he has caused his victims.

"But he never has and the judge at his trial said there was no hint of remorse in any police statement he has ever made – I don't think Gracie believes he has done anything wrong.

"But there are several hundred men out there who know what he did and we all have to go on living with the damage he inflicted upon us."

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