Former children’s nurse jailed for non-recent sexual abuse

An 82-year-old former children’s nurse has been jailed for 25 years for the sexual abuse of four boys during the 1960s and 1970s.

Graham Goodchild, who now lives in Southampton, was found guilty of four counts of buggery, one count of attempted buggery and 11 counts of indecent assault at Liverpool Crown Court on 11 June 2024.

All four victims were abused while Goodchild was employed as a children’s nurse at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Hospital between 1966 and 1976, and one boy was abused at the hospital while he was a patient.

The court heard Goodchild started abusing three of the boys from the same family after one of them had been admitted to Alder Hey Hospital in the 1960s.

After the boy left hospital, Goodchild befriended the child’s family and gained access to him by pretending to help with his after care.

He also befriended the boy’s two brothers and sexually abused all three boys, who were under 10 at the time the abuse began, at his home, on trips and in his car.

The abuse came to light when one of the boys saw an article online about Goodchild and decided to go to the police.

Another boy was indecently assaulted and raped by Goodchild at the hospital while he was a patient there, as well as at Goodchild’s flat and on a trip.

In July 2020 and March 2021, Goodchild was questioned by officers, but he denied all of the allegations and said they were all lies.

He pleaded not guilty to all the charges but was convicted following a trial in June 2024.

At Liverpool Crown Court on 23 September 2024, he was jailed for 25 years.  

Mairead Neeson, a specially trained lawyer in CPS Mersey-Cheshire’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) unit, said: “Graham Goodchild is a serial paedophile who preyed on children he was entrusted to care for.

“He used his position as a children’s nurse to gain the trust of the children and their families so he could then carry out dreadful sexual assaults - including sexually abusing a boy while he was a patient within the hospital.

“He used fear to keep the children silent and the victims kept the abuse secret until they were adults.

“In their victim personal statements, the men described how Goodchild had robbed them of their childhoods.

“They also spoke of how the process of bringing Goodchild to justice has helped them to heal and to feel they can try again to rebuild their lives.

“The Crown Prosecution Service applied to the courts for special measures so they would not have to meet their abuser face-to-face in court.

“A jury has seen through Goodchild’s denials, and he is now behind bars.”