Cardiff Crown Court (Image: Wales Updates)
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A man who carried out a string of sexual assaults against a girl under 16 at a Cardiff ice rink has been sentenced to two years in prison.
David Bullock, 59, of Downsview, Highworth, Swindon, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to seven counts of indecent assault. His victim came forward to police in 2025 – decades after the abuse took place.
Recorder Greg Bull KC told Bullock: “A probation officer is of the view you are a danger to children. You have no proper insight into your offending, even now years later.”
The assaults
The court heard the victim had attended the National Ice Rink in Cardiff for dance ice skating lessons. Bullock, then in his 20s, helped with the sessions and claimed at the time to be “training for the Olympics.”
His offending began with patting and rubbing the girl’s leg, touching her stomach, and groping her bottom. The abuse then escalated – Bullock began placing his hand inside the victim’s skirt, and on one occasion reached inside her underwear and touched her vagina. He also cupped her breasts.
The victim told officers she had “blocked out” what was happening at the time but recalled thinking “this is not right.”
Coming forward
After enduring the abuse, the girl refused to return to the ice rink and disclosed what had been happening to her mother. No police report was made, however, as the victim was told it was “her words against Bullock’s.”
It was not until 2025 that she contacted police. Bullock was arrested but answered no comment in his interview and would not even confirm whether he had attended Cardiff Ice Rink. He later entered guilty pleas to all seven charges.
A history of offending
Prosecutor Martha Smith-Higgins outlined Bullock’s previous criminal record. He had been convicted of possessing more than 18,000 indecent images of children after travelling to Amsterdam over a period of years to buy child abuse material. Indecent images were also found on a computer disk.
Officers additionally recovered children’s clothing and underwear in his possession – items Bullock admitted he had used to masturbate with.
Those offences resulted in a 40-month prison sentence in 2019 and an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order. That conviction was for the gross indecency and indecent assault of a child under 14.
Sentence
In mitigation, Neil Evans told the court his client suffered with mental health issues and physical difficulties.
Bullock was jailed for a total of 24 months. He was also made subject to an indefinite restraining order and sex offender notification requirements for 10 years.
