Convicted paedophile Graham Southwell sentenced to 39 years in prison

Graham Southwell has been sentenced to 39 years in prison.

In October, the convicted paedophile was found guilty of 19 counts of sexual abuse against five children.

Survivor tells GBC he's 'stopped a monster'

Southwell is a former GHA and St John Ambulance volunteer. In 2024, a jury took just 90 minutes to unanimously convict the 63-year-old on all counts.

One victim told GBC he takes solace in knowing he's stopped a monster, and he can finally breathe again.

Victims pack the court

The court was packed in support of the victims who had suffered at the hands of Gibraltar's most prolific paedophile. 

Southwell’s lawyer, Robert Fischel KC, presented the court with cases from England and Wales ahead of sentencing, but noted that there were no cases locally as serious as his client’s.

Victims' powerful personal statements

The five victims wrote personal statements that were read out by Prosecutor, Johan Fernandez.

The personal statements were powerful and spoke volumes of their resilience. All describing the torment and suffering they endured but also how they felt they were no longer silenced.

His lack of previous convictions was cited as mitigation, although the Chief Justice Anthony Dudley told the court that Southwell had used this apparent good character to manipulate his victims and facilitate his sexual offending.

Chief Justice: serious & very serious offences with children over 25-year period  

When listing the aggravating features, the Chief Justice referred to the overwhelming evidence of grooming, the steps Southwell took to stop his victims reporting him, the severe psychological effects on victims, the sustained re-offending to the same victim and the extreme youth of the victims.

Mr Justice Dudley described the case as the most complicated he's overseen due to the severity of some of the historic offences that fall under old legislation for which sentencing options fall 'far far short' of what the same crimes would incur today.

He described the defendant's actions as a 'horrendous course of conduct' which was agreed upon by Southwell's lawyer.

He told the court that the 20 counts ranged from serious to very serious offences. That all the victims were children, and the abuse spanned a period of 25 years.

A sexual predator, a wolf in sheep's clothing

The Chief Justice described Southwell as a sexual predator and said that one of the victims had got it right when they described him as a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Mr Justice Dudley valued the victims personal statements, telling the court it showed the devastation the defendant had brought to the victims and family. He commended them for coming forward as it serves as a message to other victims to also come forward.

The judge ran through all 19 counts, analysing in the context of the totality principle when making the decision whether sentences would run concurrently or consecutively. He insisted there were five distinct voices, of each victim, and the sentence therefore had to reflect all Southwell's offending.

The Chief Justice ultimately ruled that sentences for five of the most serious charges will be served consecutively with the other 14 charges to be served concurrently.

The total sentence was 39 years with not less than half to be served before parole could be requested. By this time Southwell would be 82 years old and, the judge proposed, would no longer pose a risk to the public.

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Are you a victim of sexual abuse?

The Royal Gibraltar Police urges sexual abuse victims to not suffer in silence, vowing to relentlessly prosecute those who sexually assault children, whenever abuse took place.

You can contact their specialist team directly on 200 48042 or file a report online.

You can also contact Childline by calling 8008 or via Whatsapp. 

Or Teenline on 8009 or via WhatsApp on 58009513.