Jail term vindicates child abuse victims

Victims of alleged child abuse in Jersey said yesterday they were vindicated after a former carer was jailed for two years for a string of sex attacks.

Gordon Wateridge, 78, nicknamed "the Perv" by his victims, repeatedly sexually assaulted three teenagers at children's home Haut de la Garenne during the 1970s.

Mr Wateridge, of St Clement, Jersey, was the first person to be charged in connection with the multi-million pound historic abuse investigation on the island.

Mr Wateridge repeatedly sexually assaulted three teenagers at the home during the 1970s.

He 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, Judge Christopher Pitchers, sitting with two Jurats, described him as a "sexual bully".

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 Mr Wateridge, then in his 40s, abused his obligation to care for them and instead used his position to carry out the attacks.

Mr Wateridge was jailed for 21 months for each of the eight indecent assault charges, to run concurrently, and for three months, consecutively, for the assault on the boy.

His jailing has intensified calls for further action to investigate other alleged abuses.

Alan Collins, a lawyer representing many of the alleged victims, said: "The importance of Wateridge's conviction is that it puts paid to those who said the abuse never took place.

"The response I have had today from the victims I represent is that they are pleased because it shows they are telling the truth.

"The Jersey government has now got two choices. It can drag all the victims through the courts and force them to re-live their ordeals or it can do the right thing and compensate those victims who want to be compensated."

Some campaigners say they have no confidence in the Channel Island's government and called for the UK to intervene by sending an "independent" expert to head an inquiry.

John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley, is chairman of Justice for Families, a UK-based family law reform group which has been supporting the Jersey campaigners.

He said: "The government in Jersey is only interested in maintaining the reputation of Jersey. A lot more needs to be done."

Mr Hemming called for the UK to send an independent prosecuting authority to lead the probe into the child abuse allegations.

He added: "It is the step in the right direction to have this prosecution but so many others have been covered up. "The Jersey government is manipulating the situation and the British government is abrogating its responsibilities."

James Campbell, chairman of the Jersey Careleavers' Association (JCA), which was set up in the wake of the Haut de la Garenne police inquiry, said Mr Wateridge's sentence was welcome but it would do little to reassure his members.

Mr Campbell, who is also part of the legal action against the island's government, said: "Wateridge has been convicted but there remain people living and working in Jersey who should have been charged with child abuse offences many years ago."