Child abuser who faked disability to evade justice jailed for 15 years
James Siddell has been jailed after sexually abusing three young boys in Leicestershire and then pretended to be disabled in police interviews.
A paedophile faked a disability by pretending to be a wheelchair user, mute and unable to hold up his own head, to avoid being prosecuted for child abuse, a court has heard.
Leicester Crown Court was told that John Siddell, 41, attended Elvis Presley nights at a social club and was videoed walking unaided, while fabricating a severe illness when police began investigating his sexual offences against three boys.
His brother, 44-year-old James Siddell, helped him maintain the lie about his health, including by suggesting to psychiatrists that he was unfit for trial.
John Siddell sexually abused the children, who were under 14, between 2018 and 2021 while he was living in Leicestershire.
On Tuesday, he was jailed for 15 years plus a two-year extended sentence, while his brother was handed two years and nine months in prison.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Keith Raynor said the brothers’ behaviour was “scheming and devious”.
He said: “They misrepresented John Siddell’s mental and physical abilities, the behaviour of both of them entirely corrupting and undermining the course of justice.”
Prosecutor Claudia James told the court the brothers lived a “not-so-covert double life”.
She said: “The brothers’ busy social lives in part unravelled their deception, as documented by social media, photos taken on their phones and their own home CCTV.”
Ms James said when John Siddell appeared physically impaired it “could not be more different” to him being pictured “walking, talking and engaging with others in his local social club”, including to watch a Newcastle United match.
She added that he took selfies in which he was able to smile and pose with his head up and eyes open, and in one photo was drinking a pint of Guinness.
Video footage captured him walking unaided and using his wheelchair like a “trolley” to move household items over a mile in June 2022.
A statement provided by someone who cared for him in hospital in July 2024 said he was “the most verbal non-verbal person I have ever seen”, the court heard.
Judge Raynor said Siddell was kept in hospital for two weeks “at the taxpayers’ expense” while an “extremely pressed National Health Service should have been doing their job with other deserving patients”.
Siddell convinced psychiatrists that he was unfit to take part in a criminal trial during an assessment when his brother spoke on his behalf.
John Siddell “presented as wheelchair-bound, refused to open his eyes and was unable to hold his own head up”, Ms James said.
In a fact-finding hearing, a jury determined that he had abused the boys.
Another psychiatrist concluded in May 2024 that there was “no reliable basis” that Siddell was unfit to stand trial.
The court heard that the month before, a police officer saw him “sat upright in his wheelchair communicating with James” before “dramatically changing once arriving at the office for his assessment”.
After being charged with perverting the course of justice, the defendants did not attend a plea hearing in July last year, when it was claimed that John Siddell had suffered a seizure and was taken to hospital.
In September, he pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, five counts of sexual assault, one count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and four counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
Both brothers admitted perverting the course of justice between November 2021 and August 2025.
A statement read to court on behalf of the victims, who cannot be identified, said they are “still dealing with the effects of the abuse”.
The brothers, of Bolam Drive, Ashington, Northumberland, did not attend their sentencing hearing on Tuesday.
Defending John Siddell, counsel Jamie Adams said the defendant is a “very vulnerable and disadvantaged human being” who has been diagnosed with epilepsy, autism and learning disabilities.
Mr Adams added that Siddell’s relatives have “exaggerated John’s ill-health throughout his life to get some financial benefit”.
James Siddell’s barrister, Nicholas Peacock, told the court his client was in a “generationally dysfunctional family who largely survived on the benefits system”.
Nicola Potts, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “While much of the attention in this case will be the lies and antics of the Siddell brothers, at the heart of this are three sexual abuse victims who had their childhood snatched from them by John Siddell’s cruel manipulation.
“His cynical lies and the support he received from James was a further insult to these victims.”