AN INTERNATIONALLY-RENOWNED sex therapist has been jailed for 17 years for raping a schoolboy in a public toilet.

Nicholas Gully, of Eley Crescent, Rottingdean, was sentenced at Hove Crown Court yesterday for the rape which took place at the King Alfred leisure centre in January.

The 48-year-old preyed on the 14-year-old after spotting him in the communal area as the boy waited for his mother to collect him.

Gully then pretended to be on the phone, calling the boy “sexy”.

Spooked, the boy hid in the cubicle, where Gully pounced on him.

The father of two, who once treated celebrities at his clinic in Harley Street, appeared via video link from a suite at HMP Lewes.

Judge Christine Henson QC, sentencing, said Gully achieved a “depraved sexual thrill” out of raping the schoolboy.

She said the incident has caused severe psychological harm to the boy, and this was an aggravating factor when handing Gully his lengthy jail time.

Judge Henson also stated the fact that Gully proceeded to rape the boy in a public place where the teenager “should have felt safe” was another serious factor in the crime.

She added that the schoolboy’s age made him particularly vulnerable.

There was also a children’s party taking place in the leisure centre at the time of the rape on the afternoon of Sunday, January 29.

Judge Henson said: “You were an internationally-renowned therapist.

“You had good knowledge of the impact of sexual abuse in childhood, which is a particularly troubling aspect of this case.”

She said that Gully’s pursuit of the boy represented “predatory behaviour” and deemed him a serious threat to young males despite this being his first sexual offence.

Judge Henson condemned Gully’s decision to not submit a DNA sample when he was arrested on January 31, saying it was a “step to try and avoid justice”.

During the trial, Gully claimed he thought the boy was 16 or 17.

He was given two years and six months for one count of sexual assault, four years for a second count of sexual assault, and 11 years for one count of rape after being found guilty in July.

Gully must serve a minimum of 11 years, with the final six potentially being served on prison release license.

He will also be a registered sex offender for life, and was given a sexual harm prevention order which will severely restrict his access to children under 16.

Judge Henson said: “I hope the conviction will allow the boy and his family to move forward in a positive way.”

Speaking after the sentencing, the boy’s mother said: “I am relieved he had the appropriate term. I am also relieved he will be removed from society. He is a serious danger.”

ATTACKER WAS DUE TO LEAVE FOR NEW LIFE IN THAILAND

NICHOLAS Gully was due to leave the UK for a new life in Thailand just two days after raping the schoolboy.

The once esteemed sex therapist had sold his Brunswick clinic in Harley Street and was ready to move until police arrested him at his home on January 31.

During his trial, the jury heard how Gully entered the King Alfred leisure centre and immediately spotted the schoolboy, continuously glaring at him until the youth looked back.

He then went to the toilet to see if the boy would follow, which he did not, and then tried luring him again.

The boy hid in the cubicle but Gully soon pounced. He proceeded to perform oral sex on the boy.

The boy texted friends immediately after telling them he “felt like killing himself” because he thought he was to blame for what happened.

The jury heard how Gully lived a double life – he was a father to two daughters, aged 20 and 22, hiding his activities as a homosexual man who “cruised” for sex with strangers in public places, an act called cottaging.

It also emerged that Gully once wrote a play about cottaging, entitled Anonymous. He said he studied it and was intrigued by the anonymity.

Gully said his age range target for sexual partners was 18 to 25-year- old men.

He admitted he thought the boy was “close to the line” of the legal age of consent. But the jury saw through his claims.