Former Eden District Council chairman admits more child abuse (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Former Eden District Council chairman admits more child abuse

10:57am Friday 3rd February 2012 in News

A DISGRACED Cumbria council chairman and Eden businessman has admitted sexually abusing another boy victim.

Robert Anthony Brunskill, 66, is already serving a 10 year jail sentence for a series of sexual offences against schoolboys.

Yesterday at Preston Crown Court, Brunskill, a former English teacher at Rossall School, near Fleetwood, admitted five charges of indecently assaulting a male, a boy under 16.

The offences date back around 30 years. He also pleaded guilty to one serious sexual offence charge.

Paul Brookwell, prosecuting, said the complainant in the latest case had recently come forward after hearing about the other matters.

The prosecution asked for sentencing to be adjourned so that the complainant can attend court.

Judge Anthony Russell QC said the request was a legitimate one, given the nature of the offending.

Defence barrister Christopher Evans said his client wished to avoid any delay. He wanted to be sentenced and was willing to be sentenced by videolink.

The case has been transferred to Carlisle Crown Court for sentencing by Judge Paul Batty QC on February 16th.

Judge Russell said the other judge was in a better position to put the case into its overall context. There was also the factor that the complainant in the case wanted to be at court.

"I hope that arrangements will be able to be made for you to be sentenced over the videolink," said Judge Russell.

Brunskill, formerly of Salkeld Dykes, Penrith, a former chairman of Eden District Council and well-known international rally car driver, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment at Carlisle Crown Court last year.

At that hearing Brunskill, who ran a PR company in Penrith, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting one boy at the Fleetwood boarding school in the 1970s as well as admitting the repeated sexual abuse of a teenager in Cumbria. He also pleaded guilty to three further charges of indecently assaulting another boy - then aged eight - at the school.