How Jailed Priest Gordon Rideout Preyed on the Sick

By Dave Comeau
Crawley News
May 22, 2013

http://www.thisissussex.co.uk/jailed-priest-Gordon-Rideout-preyed-sick/story-19055609-detail/story.html#axzz2U1JM55c1

JAILED: Gordon Rideout has finally been brought to justice more than 50 years after his first offence

BEHIND BARS: Gordon Rideout has finally been brought to justice more than 50 years after his first offence

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.

"One victim recalled how the children would hide under their covers when he came into their dormitories."

The court heard that victims who spoke out were subjected to vicious beatings because a child's word was not believed.

Mr Pilkington added: "Some of his victims told police in interviews that it simply 'wasn't worth complaining' because of the punishment they would receive in return.

"Instead the victims hid what happened to them for many years and none of us can begin to imagine the impact that has had on their lives.

"I would like to pay tribute to the bravery and the fortitude of the victims in coming forward to give evidence.

"Those who heard the evidence they gave at court will have realised how difficult this has been for them."

Rideout was arrested on March 6 last year following a six-month inquiry by Sussex Police detectives and charged last August.

Detective Chief Inspector Jon Gross said: "It is difficult to overestimate the significance of this verdict for those who have finally seen justice, many decades after being prey to the sexual abuse perpetrated by Gordon Rideout.

"His offending over that period has been hugely impactive upon the lives of his victims, from childhood to the present day."

The police investigation followed receipt of a confidential report to the Diocese of Chichester by Judge Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss in May 2011.

A copy of the report was voluntarily supplied to police by the diocese.

That report raised concerns about Rideout's conduct in the 1960s and early 1970s, and provided detectives with new lines of inquiry.

The Bishop of Chichester said the case left question marks over why it took so long for the allegations of abuse to be taken seriously.

He said: "We shall continue to interrogate those procedures and to do our very best to ensure that we deliver the quality and standard that others expect of us."