Crawley Priest Carried out Sex Attacks at Children's Home, Court Hears
Crawley News
He is also accused of indecently assaulting a boy at a home in Essex, and two girls in Hampshire. The retired Church Of England priest denies 35 counts of indecent assault on 17 children as young as five, and two counts of attempted rape, between January 1962 and January 1973. A total of 32 of the charges relate to Rideout's time as an assistant curate at St Mary's Church in Southgate, when he would visit a children's home in Crawley. Philip Bennetts QC, opening the case for the prosecution at the eight-week trial at Lewes Crown Court, said Rideout would visit the home and "it would appear from the evidence that he would wander the house and indeed the grounds unaccompanied, and he would visit children when they were sick and alone in bed". He told the jury at Lewes Crown Court that one of the alleged victims recalled: "Mr Rideout used to visit the dormitories at night. He would put his hands under the covers and, to use (the alleged victim's) words, fondle around. "It was on a regular basis when he came to stay, maybe once, twice, three times a week sometimes." The court heard Rideout's victims did not complain about the abuse at the time because "a child's word was not believed" at the home. The retired priest, who sat in the dock wearing a grey suit and black sweater, took notes and sipped water as the case against him was outlined. He is accused of twice attempting to rape a girl who attended choir practice. After one occasion in the defendant's flat, he walked her back to the children's home and told her: "This is going to be our secret," Mr Bennetts said. A month after another alleged rape attempt - which took place in a wooded area - the girl believed she was pregnant. She confided in a friend who informed the manager of the home, and she was then "slapped across the face", the court heard. Mr Bennetts said of the home: "The evidence you will hear was of a brutal regime where children were taught how to behave by beatings. "One of the questions that inevitably is asked in cases of this nature, when you're going back such a long time in the past, is why complaints weren't made at the time. "You will hear in the evidence in this case that a child's word was not believed. "Indeed, on the occasion that a young child was brave enough to complain, you'll hear that they were beaten." The court heard that a girl, who was either 14 or 15 at the time she was abused, was asked why she had not told staff in charge at the home. Mr Bennetts told the jury that during a police interview the girl said: "I was too scared, too scared. I didn't want to be beaten again, too scared. The beatings were so much worse than what that man was doing. The beatings were terrible, absolutely terrible." The court heard a boy asked Rideout why he was fondling him. Mr Bennetts said the boy recalled: "He (Rideout) said 'I've got to do it'. I said 'why?', and he said 'I like little boys'." The prosecutor also described how another complainant said she told the married couple who ran the home that the priest was abusing them, but they responded by throwing her against a wall, breaking one of her ribs. Rideout, who was ordained in 1962, is also accused of indecently assaulting a boy in Barkingside, Essex, and two girls in Middle Wallop, Hampshire, where the defendant was an armed forces chaplain. The jury was told that he was acquitted by a court martial in 1972 over allegations of indecent assault. Rideout, of Filching Close, Polegate, East Sussex, was charged in June following a nine-month inquiry by Sussex Police. The trial continues.
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