Narara: Couple Paul Robert Bamforth and Julia Ann Bamforth plead guilty to child sex abuse
Shocking details have emerged in court about a Narara couple who plied a young “retard” boy with drugs and filmed him as they repeatedly sexually abused him over a five-year period.
Central Coast
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A couple lured a young boy with “free drugs” to their Narara home where they would film themselves having sex with him over a five-year period, a court has heard.
The gravity of their shocking offending only became apparent, according to court documents, when police raided the couple’s home looking for drugs and weapons only to find a mobile phone containing videos of child abuse.
A court heard a neighbour, who was helping clean up after the couple’s arrest, discovered several hard drives which she also turned over to police who established Strike Force Bloomsbury — an investigation that uncovered the full extent of the couple’s shocking sexual abuse of a boy over five years.
For the first time the couple’s abhorrent offending can be revealed after they both pleaded guilty to more than 65 charges each relating to the ongoing sexual abuse of the boy from the age of 12 to 16.
Paul Robert Bamforth, 50, faced Gosford Local Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to 65 charges including 21 counts of aggravated sexual intercourse between 2016 and 2021.
It came after his wife Julia Ann Bamforth, 49, pleaded guilty to 67 charges including 13 counts of aggravated sexual intercourse and 14 counts of intentionally sexually touching a child.
The court heard police feared had the couple would have continued to abuse the boy, or others, had they not been arrested.
An agreed set of facts states on February 26 last year Brisbane Water Police conducted a search of their Gilda Drive address where they seized a number of items including a “zombie sword”, testosterone and a mobile phone.
After the couple were arrested a neighbour was house cleaning when she discovered five computer hard drives in a shoe cupboard under some rubbish.
She found another two taped to the underside of a bedside table.
The woman had heard about the arrests and out of concern she “put them aside” until she could get a friend to check their contents before taking them to police.
“A review of some of the electronic devices, including one belonging to Paul Bamforth contained child abuse material, showing Paul Bamforth and Julia Bamforth engaged in sexual acts with a young child, estimated to be between 10 and 13 years of age,” the facts state.
Police established Strike Force Bloomsbury and interviewed the victim who said he was a young child when he first met the couple.
The facts state he would be invited to the offenders’ house on false pretences but every time “it was to f..k his wife, but I didn’t want to, but I had to”.
“The victim recalls that they would give him `ice to f..k his wife’,” the facts state.
“The victim says `I used to get free pot, free ice, free MDMA off him, for, to do that … to f..k, root his wife.”
The victim told police there has been ongoing sexual abuse by the co-offenders from the time he was seven years old and he was forced to perform sex acts with both of them.
The facts state there were numerous text messages between Mr and Mrs Bamforth which captured “the planning by the co-offenders against the victim and how it creates sexual gratification for the co-offenders”.
During these exchanges “it is clear that the co-offenders are aware of the cognitive impairment of the victim” and refer to him as the “retard”.
Police also discovered about 300 “stories” written by both Mr and Mrs Bamforth in the Notes function of an iPhone 11 dating back to 2016 detailing their sexual offences and fantasies.
Some of the stories were up to 2500 words long.
“These stories contain evidence to show Paul Bamforth and Julia Bamforth have a sexual predisposition to having sex with young children and the lengths they would go to, to satisfy their sexual needs and wants,” the facts state.
“The contents of these notes also include the numerous sexual encounters with the victim and another young person. Again the notes go into the specific detail and offending against both with Julia Bamforth stating that she cannot wait to continue to reoffend against the victim in company of Paul Bamforth.
“There are stories to suggest that if Paul Bamforth and Julia Bamforth had not been arrested, they would continue to reoffend against children. One story details the fantasy of both, to take in homeless or deserted children to offend against and the discussion of kidnapping children to satisfy their sexual urges and fantasies.”
Police also seized high definition CCTV from inside the couple’s house on the night of February 11, 2021, when their young victim was punched in the face, kicked and detained from about 11.30pm until 7.30am the following morning.
Three other juveniles, another man and Paul Bamforth, were charged in relation to that attack, which police state in the facts was in retaliation for the victim disclosing the couple’s ongoing abuse to two other people.
The three juveniles and the other man have since been dealt with by the courts for their involvement.
Mr and Mrs Bamforth will face Gosford District Court on September 29 to set a date to be sentenced.
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