UNITED KINGDOM
Crawley News
By Dave Comeau
A FORMER priest has been jailed for ten years for historic sexual abuse at an Ifield children’s home.
Gordon Rideout abused boys and girls as young as five at Ifield Hall, a Barnardo’s children’s home which has since been demolished.
It was during his time as assistant curate at St Mary’s Church in Southgate between 1962 and 1965 that he would visit the home and carry out the abuse.
Rideout, 74, from Polegate, East Sussex, was found guilty on Monday of 34 indecent assaults and two attempted rapes after a six-week trial at Lewes Crown Court. He was acquitted of one charge of indecent assault.
All of the crimes, apart from four indecent assaults on girls at an army base in Hampshire, were committed at the home.
Nigel Pilkington, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Gordon Rideout was in a position of trust, which he systemically abused, indecently assaulting the vulnerable youngsters that he met over a number of years.
“He was able to wander through Ifield Hall and the gardens, even visiting children when they were sick and alone in bed.
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