Hello everyone! My book The Trauma Monster should be out in the late spring of 2025.
The stories! Many of the stories start in the 1960s and 1970s. Not all of the stories I heard were about murder/ There were many stories of abduction and assault, and all of them were important to our local community. Not all the stories made it into the final book. One such story is about a predator named Bradley Priestap. No one is sure where he lives today, although there are many rumours.
It is true that this story falls into a time period thirty years after many of the unsolved murders occurred, it shows a reflection of the trauma inflicted on the London community. Trauma to a community leaves scars for up to three generations, and we get the opportunity to gain some insight into how we, the community, the police, the onlookers, the law makers, allow so many more traumatized victims to be "made".
This is a story about a serial rapist and prowler who could not be stopped. While he eventually left London for British Columbia, this man has connections to London, and it would be no surprise if he were once again living amongst us. When I first heard about Bradly Priestap from one of the fellow sleuths, it was because Priestap had lived for many years beside this sleuth's parents back in 2002, and she had been vigilant to help keep them safe and the neighborhood safe. Given his previous record for sexual assault, Bradley Priestap had been the subj ect of police warnings after he moved into the calm andcomfortable north London neighborhood in 2002.
Priestap's criminal career was well cemented a dozen years prior to his move to north London. The London Free Press was vigilant in keeping track of Bradly Priestop's whereabouts. The first conviction I was able to locate was an early conviction in 1988 for assaulting a Perth Country real estate agent, and Priestop was found guilty of sexual assault, forcible confinement,
breaking and entering and mischief. In 1990,only two years later, Priestap was sentenced to 6 1/2 years for sexually assaulting a London woman he threatened with a fake gun, before taking her to Fanshawe Conservation Area and attacking her. Shortly after being let out of jail, Priestap received a 1997 conviction for breaching a probation order to stay away from stores selling women's clothing after he was caught showing sexually explicit photos of women to female clerks in clothing stores in Stratford and London. By 2002, Priestap was found living with a female partner in a north London neighborhood but this was also the year he confronted a woman in her backyard in Elgin County, and then was found with what is commonly known as a rape kit in his car.
In the 2002 incident, a woman, alone with her four young children sleeping inside her home, confronted Priestap in the woman's backyard. She ventured outside to bring in the wash.
Looking over at her deck, she thought she saw an animal hunched over. The shape moved toward the front yard and she called out a number of times only to have Priestap answer that
he was looking for something. Priestap then stood up, walked towards her and shifted quickly past her. The woman called police and when Priestap was found two hours later still in his car,
he had a balaclava, duct tape, binoculars, two flashlights, a tape recorder, a camera and a phone book. The woman later noticed a pair of underpants from her laundry missing and the
underwear was located in a neighbour's bushes. Priestap claimed he was looking for illegal marijuana in someone else's yard so he could relay the information to police. He was charged
but the conviction was originally overturned when the Crown had not proven there was intent of committing a specific evil act, as intent was something that a prowling conviction required.
Ultimately, because of Bradley Priestap's case, a change was made to the prowling laws. Intent was no longer a requirement. In this matter involving the Ethel Ontario woman, Priestap was
eventually given a suspended sentence and three years of probation.
The police did follow due diligence. A public service announcement, through the London Free Press, came out in 2002 to alert the Northridge neighbours that a high risk sex offender was
now living among them on Glengyle Crescent. Priestap's presence in the community immediately sparked outrage, and within a short period of time a Neighborhood Watch was
formed in that area. Due to his high-risk offender label, Priestap was banned from being within a hundred metres of a school, public park or swimming pool unless accompanied by another
adult. He was also banned from possessing women's clothing. Since Priestap was living with another adult in the area, it appears police hands were tied, other than to let the neighbours be
aware of his presence.
Or were their hands tied? A newsletter, of sorts, went out to the Northridge neighborhood immediately after the London Free Press posted that article titled "Police warn of Sex Offender"
on the 25 th of May 2002. Detective Rick Gillespie at that time said Priestap "was at high risk to reoffend and commit offences causing death and bodily harm." The problem was that
Priestap's name was not on the national sex offender registry given that his sex-related crimes happened before 2001. That meant police did not have an exact residential location for him.
The only condition for Priestap to reside on Glengyle Crescent was that he had a 9:30 PM to 5AM curfew to remain in the house. It did not miss anyone's attention that this home backed
onto a public park and playground. Before the week was out, the community had called a meeting that would include London police representatives and it would be held at nearby Northridge Public School. Flyers circulated throughout the entire Northridge community with the warning about the serial rapist living amongst them. At the meeting, two hundred neighbours listened intently to ideas about how to handle this unwanted resident who lived very nearby. One police officer said this: "You are all victims of the judicial system; our hands are tied, there is nothing we can do, it is before the courts.....and it is not a matter of IF he will reoffend but WHEN".
And yes, as always, there was more to the story of the lady who caught Bradley Priestap in her backyard in Ethel Ontario. On the 19th of August 2002, Bradly Priestap was back in court facing charges of criminal harassment and trespass. It turns out that the Ethel Ontario woman had actually had a contact with Mr. Priestap in 1997 when Priestap spotted her at a Waterloo market and asked her if she would like to see pornographic pictures. Later, the woman and her family moved to Ethel Ontario, and one day, the woman's husband placed an ad in the paper that he had some lights for sale. Priestap showed up at the house to inquire about the lights, when the husband was not home, but he remained polite and looked well dressed and clean shaven. A few days later, the same scenario repeated itself and Bradly Priestap was back at the victim's home asking about the lights. This happened a further two times but the husband was home. After a neighbour found an assortment of underwear in some nearby bushes and once again saw Priestap in the backyard, police were called. After the Ethel woman complained about Priestap prowling in her backyard, the police responded quickly. The police found nothing unusual in the trunk of Priestap's car but on the front passenger seat found a map of both London and also the Ethel Ontario area, a black coloured balaclava, a roll of duct tape, two working flashlights, a camera containing 12 exposed pictures, an address book listing the names of several women. Unfortunately, the charges were dismissed because the threshold of proof was not met. I have purposely mentioned what was in Priestap's possession twice now and I am hoping you will indeed read it twice. Take a moment, and imagine what a strong, young, physically fit young man could do with this kind of "rape kit".
In 2006, after Priestap moved, the same kind of alert memo identifying Priestap as a serious offender now living on Mapleton Line in Elgin County, was sent to neighbours. Perhaps,
being more rural with homes spaced more widely apart, the public outcry was not the same. Some neighbours continued to believe that Priestap was still living in the Northridge
community and with the same woman. Some of the neighbours noticed his comings and goings. The neighbours closest to the address on Glengyle Crescent in Northridge would also confirm this. It was apparent that before people learned of the criminal history, Bradley Priestap was seen by everyone who met him as kind and affable and friendly. He was so friendly that even his next-door neighbour was glad to take on a project with Bradley Priestap and build a wooden fence between their two properties. This neighbour was an older man and enjoyed Brad Priestap's company, having completely no idea what kind of evil was lurking and waiting.
In the summer and fall of 2012, Priestap's trail of terror widened and now included university students in London Ontario. On Sept. 28, 2012, Priestap was caught red-handed looking in windows and entering strangers' backyards. That was just the tip of the iceberg. Bradley Priestap had been terrorizing a group of young female university students, petite women with long blond hair for the most part, who lived in off-campus housing areas close to the University of Western Ontario. At least six women were involved in this terrorism. After a lengthy trial, Priestap was found guilty of eight counts of night prowling, two counts of voyeurism, one count of break and enter to commit voyeurism, and one count of possession of break-in tools. For this, Bradley Priestap was sentenced to nine years of incarceration. Justice Carey called
Priestap's actions as "predatory and planned". In one of these incidents, Priestap broke into a home where two of the women were, and one of them woke up to Priestap snapping photos of her body. Priestap openly announced that he was taking pictures of her private parts. In other incidents, women talked about hearing footsteps on their back deck and up a fire escape, they heard the distant jiggling of their doorknobs, they wondered if they were being followed, and they even spread pancake mix on the back deck to see what kind of prints were left behind. The prints were indeed human, not animal. Another woman was shown a picture of herself naked after Priestap had taken a picture of her when he was spying on her through her bedroom window. The pain and trauma of these women was palpable. For any woman, just hearing her doorbell ringing late at night, even if her partner or other people are at home, will often immediately recall a thumping heartbeat and a quickened breath. Imagine someone standing over one's bed, with a man snapping pictures with a camera, and then that man runs off. Priestap's only reason for this reign of terror was that he was searching for an amateur pornography producer who had ripped him off. Priestap was also caught breaking in and stealing underwear. In the end, it was a police surveillance squad that caught Priestap in action prowling in backyards and peeking in windows. This time, they found a bag in his car containing not only a black toque, screwdriver, duct tape, and a flashlight but also a large hypodermic needle and a camcorder containing pictures of undressed women in the area.
A long-term supervision order (LTSO) was made after Priestap was handed a nine-year jail sentence for the crimes against the university women. Priestap was no longer able to be in
possession of a 'rape kit", including any items such as rope, masks, duct tape, handcuffs and binoculars. When Priestap was living in a halfway house in a Chilliwack Community correctional centre in 2020, which is a federal house for high-risk offenders reintegrating into society, he was again caught with duct tape in his room. Priestap was acquitted of this breach of probation, since it was unclear to the courts if he understood that duct tape was a breach.
Priestap's long prowling and assault career is well-known. He keeps reoffending. Every few years, we again hear about him in the papers. As of today, the regular citizen has no clue where
Priestap is living. If you know of a Løndon-based story that was never given much press, but you feel the public needs to know about it, please contact me at barbdorrington@gmail.com. Together, we can gather the knowledge to make London a safer community.
