Canada: Man Sentenced to 8 Years, 38 Years After Sex Crimes

ByNewsmakers

Sep 13, 2025 #Bradley Britton, #Justice Conlan, #Ontario Supreme Court

By Olufemi Shodunke ( Chief, Canada )

An Ontario Supreme Court of Justice has sentenced 62-year-old Bradley Britton to eight years in prison for sexually assaulting two women nearly four decades ago.

Justice Conlan, delivering judgment last Wednesday, described the crimes as “historical offences” but stressed that the gravity of the assaults and Britton’s high degree of responsibility warranted a significant custodial term.

“The gravity of these two offences is very significant. The degree of responsibility of this offender, Britton, is very high,” Conlan declared.

Despite the passage of time, the judge held that “a significant penitentiary sentence is the only reasonable disposition,” rejecting defence pleas for leniency.

Britton received five years’ imprisonment for the 1987 assault on victim N.G. in Toronto and three years for the 1993 assault on victim A.N. in Oakville. The terms will run consecutively, making a total of eight years.

Justice Conlan noted that the penalties had been “deliberately tempered” in respect of the totality principle. He remarked:

“For example, five years in custody for breaking into the home of and sexually assaulting, with full vaginal penetration, a random woman in her bed at knife point, is relatively low. Overall, though, I am satisfied that the global sentence imposed is a fit one.”

The assaults went unsolved for decades until a determined investigation by Toronto and Halton police, aided by a genealogy laboratory in Texas, linked Britton to the crimes in 2023.

Court records showed that Britton, then 24, invaded the home of 28-year-old N.G. between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. in 1987. He sexually assaulted her at knifepoint as her three children and husband slept nearby. The terrified victim later told police she feared she would be killed during the attack.

Six years later, in 1993, Britton ambushed 20-year-old A.N. as she walked home in Oakville. Lying in wait behind a gravestone, he pounced, sexually assaulted her, and threatened her not to speak, warning that he would be watching.

Justice Conlan emphasized that the offences—committed years apart, against different women, in different cities—justified consecutive sentences.

Britton, who has a long history of drug and alcohol addiction but no other criminal record since the assaults, will now serve eight years in prison for crimes the judge described as “grievous” and “very significant.”