Haut de la Garenne carer Gordon Wateridge jailed for 1970s sex attacks on teensMonday, September 21, 2009
House of horrors: Haut de la Garenne was the subject of an intensive sex crimes investigation
A former carer at Jersey children's home Haut de la Garenne was jailed for two years today after being found guilty of a string of sex attacks on teenage girls.
Gordon Wateridge, nicknamed "the Perv" by his victims, repeatedly sexually assaulted the teenagers at the home during the 1970s.
The 78-year-old, described as a "persistent sexual bully" during his trial, was found guilty of eight charges of indecent assault and one charge of assault following a trial at Jersey's Royal Court last month.
Passing sentence today, Judge Christopher Pitchers, sitting with two Jurats, said: "What he did was rightly described in the trial as sexual bullying."
Wateridge, of St Clement, Jersey, was the first person to be charged in connection with a multimillion-pound historic abuse investigation on the Channel Island.
His trial heard that he would repeatedly grope girls' breasts, hug the teenagers inappropriately and kiss them on the neck.
He indecently assaulted three teenage girls and assaulted one teenage boy while working as a house parent at the home.
Youngsters sent to Haut de la Garenne were vulnerable and suffered from a variety of problems, the court heard.
But Croydon-born Wateridge, then in his 40s, abused his obligation to care for them and instead used his position to carry out the attacks.
Judge Pitchers said it was true that the acts carried out by Wateridge against the young girls were at the "lower end" of the sentencing guidelines, but he added: "There is no such thing as a trivial indecent assault of child."
He continued: "They were vulnerable because they were children and because they were placed in the home without the support of a loving family. "They were entitled to expect care, love and kindness but in fact they received sexual bullying and unkindness."
Jersey child molester jailed for two years