Gospel Singer Jailed for 11 Months on Sex Abuse Charges

Portadown Times
June 21, 2013

http://www.portadowntimes.co.uk/news/local/gospel-singer-jailed-for-11-months-on-sex-abuse-charges-1-5213447

Paul Gardiner

A Markethill gospel singer who admitted abusing three young girls 35 years ago has been jailed for 11 months.

Paul Gardiner (52) was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court on Friday.

The court had heard on Tuesday how the former youth pastor was caught leaving one victim’s bedroom “naked, trying to pull his underpants up”.

Last April, the father of four pleaded guilty to a total of 13 counts of indecent assault against the girls who were then aged seven, nine and 14 years, on dates between January 1978 and March 1980.

Gardiner served as a youth pastor in Portadown.