Man guilty of molesting teens in 1970s

SAINT HELIER, Jersey, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- An elderly former house parent at a children's home on the British island of Jersey was convicted Thursday of molesting three teenage girls in the 1970s.

A judge in the Jersey Royal Court told Gordon Wateridge, 78, who still lives on the island, he is likely to get a prison term, the Daily Mail reported.

Wateridge worked at the Haut de la Garenne home, where police say children were routinely abused physically and sexually between the 1940s and 1980s. The home received international publicity when investigators suggested some children were even killed, but evidence of that has been discredited.

The victims said children at the home nicknamed Wateridge "the Perv" for his habit of groping girls. One woman, now 53, said Wateridge would pretend he was tickling her while running his hands up and down her legs. She said she never tried to report him.

"No one would have listened," she said.

Wateridge is the first person connected to the home to stand trial. Another man, now 46, admitted molesting other residents as a teenager, but charges were dismissed because he had been a victim of sexual assault, the newspaper said.

Man guilty of molesting teens in 1970s