Police make discovery in bedroom of coach driver caught playing with himself on school bus
A perverted former bus driver has been hauled back before the courts because of what police officers found hidden in his bedroom. Frederick McBride was caught performing a sex act on his coach when he should have been picking up high school pupils.
He has now found himself back in trouble with the law after illegally keeping several electronic devices secret from the police. But the pensioner has been spared an immediate prison sentence.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday, Tuesday, that McBride, of Merton Road in Bootle, was handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) in 2016 after being convicted of indecent exposure, possession of indecent images of children and three counts of making indecent images of children. The terms of this SHPO require the 67-year-old to inform Merseyside Police of any electronic devices in his ownership.
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Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, described how, on September 2 this year, he was then visited by officers who found a laptop and two storage devices hidden under clothing in his bedroom. A tablet computer was also discovered in his living room, with none of the four items having been disclosed to the force.
Rachel Oakdene, defending, told the court that her client had become socially isolated following his conviction eight years ago but now works as gardener and has been "involved in fundraising for various charities in the local community". She added: "He is not in the best of health now. He has arthritic problems and some difficulty in his respiratory system."
McBride admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order. He was handed a 12-month imprisonment suspended for two years, a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 15 days and a three-month electronically-monitored curfew from 10pm to 8am.
Sentencing, Judge Ian Harris said: "You knew you should have notified the police of any newly acquired electronic devices. I find that you deliberately flouted your sexual harm prevention order. However, these devices were not used for any sexual purposes. Your previous convictions clearly have not deterred you from committing this offence.
"You have admitted, in the past, that your desire to access indecent images of children has overwhelmed other considerations. If there had been indecent images on these devices, your feet would not have touched the ground."
The ECHO previously reported that McBride was found to have downloaded nearly 10,000 vile indecent images of children after he was caught pleasuring himself on his bus when he was meant to be picking up Alsop High School pupils from Walton Sports Centre in September 2014. A gym user spotted him the act while his empty coach was parked up during the mid-morning.
Christopher Taylor, appearing for the prosecution on this occasion, outlined how the defendant was working for Maghull Coaches and was tasked with collecting year eight students who had been playing football. But a man who was using an exercise bike at the leisure centre looked towards the car park and saw McBride standing in the middle of the coach "playing with himself". When challenged and told he could be seen performing a sex act, he remarked: "I didn’t know, I was only masturbating over my bird."
Upon his arrest later the same day, the police recovered a laptop and an external hard drive from his home which contained 849 indecent images in category A – those showing the most serious forms of abuse – plus 909 in category B and 7,732 in category C. Under interview, McBride confessed to being "sexually attracted to young girls".
He was given a 12-month imprisonment suspended for two years by a judge after pleading guilty, as well as 80 hours of unpaid work. However, he was then jailed for 11 months in 2021 for a breach of his sexual harm prevention order.