Sullivan preyed on victims thumbing lifts

CHILD sex abuser David Sullivan whose body was found buried in a bog near Belcoo almost 20 years ago used to prey on innocent men as they hitched for lifts along some of Enniskillen busiest roads before his brutal murder, The Impartial Reporter can reveal.
The paedophile who we now know sexually abused schoolboys on the bus he drove for Ulsterbus, in his car and in the flats he lived in was frequently spotted driving in search for his next innocent victim. And he got away with it again and again.
Colin (not his real name) has recalled hitching for a lift along the Sligo Road in Enniskillen in 1996 when the evil predator offered to take him to his home in Garrison. 
“A car pulled up and I recognised David Sullivan from his time driving the Ulsterbus. He asked me where I was going and said he was headed in the direction of Garrison too. 
“It wasn’t long before the conversation turned to sex, or his lack of, and while I was a bit uncomfortable with the subject, I was appreciative of the lift and could grin and bear it.”
Sullivan, who at this stage was dying of Parkinson’s Disease, asked Colin if he could take his braces down as they “were tight and bothering him”.
“I didn’t mind, it was just braces. I think in my innocence I had no idea this was anything other than an old man complaining about his clothes being ill-fitting. And he was obviously in ill health.
“The conversation stayed in the gutter; his girlfriend wouldn’t have sex with him. He also started to touch himself and kept apologising, saying it was his disease made his groin itchy.”
By the time the pair got to Belcoo Sullivan was driving slower and as they approached a viewpoint after Corralea Activity Centre overlooking Lough MacNean he chillingly turned the car off the road.
“He said he was tired and wanted to rest a minute. I was freaked out but willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. He asked me if I wanted to lay back in the seat and close my eyes for a bit, that he could put my seat back and we’d be back on the road soon.”
But that was it for Colin, telling Sullivan that he needed to get home or his parents would come and look for him. 
“This news helped David recover from his drowsiness very quickly and he practically sped the whole way to Garrison, dropped me off in the village, and speeding off towards Belleek. “That was the last I saw of David Sullivan. It left me feeling creeped out and thinking I’d dodged a bullet,” he said. 
Over a year later and Colin was talking to a friend in Garrison who had recalled recently thumbing back on the Sligo Road when he was picked up by… Sullivan.
“What happened next was word for word what happened to me. The girlfriend, the braces, the self-touching, the lay-by. Everything. Word for word,” he said.
After Sullivan’s body was found buried in a bog near Belcoo Colin phoned Enniskillen police station and told officers the story. 
“I thought that I probably wasn’t the first young man this series of events happened to and I know for a fact that I wasn’t the last. I reckoned there was a possibility that Sullivan picked up the wrong person thumbing on the Sligo Road one day. I never did hear back from the police.
“Maybe someone remembers seeing someone thumbing on the Sligo Road the day Sullivan vanished? Maybe now police officers think it’s a valid lead? I wanted to share my story,” said Colin.
It is believed Sullivan was part of a paedophile ring in Enniskillen which included well known people, such as businessmen and people in positions of trust.
This newspaper has carried numerous interviews with sex abuse victims in recent weeks who have bravely come forward and as a result have turned the spotlight on Fermanagh’s dirty past, a time when this type of abuse was going on in towns, villages and homes across the county.
The PSNI has consistently refused to answer questions about what it knew about Sullivan’s activities as well as other specific questions.