A married former police officer Paedophile, Christopher Aldridge from Cardenden, has been incarcerated for sexually assaulting a young girl over a duration of five years.
The girl was but nine when her suffering commenced under the control of Christopher Aldridge, who was residing in Dunfermline at the time.
Christopher Aldridge has shown no remorse and has astonishingly shifted the blame onto the victim, who is now an adult. He asserts that she was sexually provocative when playing tag at his residence at the age of nine.
On each instance, Christopher Aldridge would express remorse to the child following the abuse, assure her it would not recur, and implore her to remain silent.
He served in the British Transport Police and then worked as a driving instructor.
Christopher Aldridge, 76, of Golf View, Cardenden, was present for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court today (Wednesday).
He previously confessed to offences committed between August 2005 and August 2010 at Dover Park, Dunfermline, during which he engaged in obscene, indecent, and libidinous conduct towards the girl.
He tickled her, grasped her, pulled her across the floor, caressed her both over and under her clothing, groped her breasts, placed his hand beneath her lower garments, and manipulated her intimate areas with his fingers.
The court was informed that Aldridge resided in Surrey prior to relocating to Scotland, and in 2001, he moved into a residence in Dunfermline with his spouse.
He served as a British Transport Police officer until his retirement about 2002, then becoming a driving instructor.
The victim, who is now 26, was regularly looked after by Christopher Aldridge and his wife at their home, when she was a child.
On one occasion after touching the girl, Christopher Aldridge, said “please don’t tell anybody” because he would “get in big trouble”.
The abuse happened on “multiple occasions” until the girl was 14.
Depute fiscal Katherine Fraser said that initially the girl did not tell anyone as she “felt sorry for him and did not want him to get into trouble”.
On each occasion the girl froze and kept quiet. However on one occasion she shouted “help” in the hope that someone would come and see what was happening.
On another occasion she was pinned to the kitchen floor by him.
One time she locked herself in the toilet but he used a coin to unlock the door and pinned her down on the floor.
When she was 14, she became upset and told her mum she did not want to go back to Aldridge’s home.
She was crying but he said to her: “You can’t tell anyone what’s been going on.”
After he was finally confronted in 2012, Aldridge admitted to his wife that he had been touching the girl.
He agreed to have counselling and the police were not contacted at that time.
However, after Christopher Aldridge told the counsellor he had sexually abused the girl, the police were contacted.
At that stage the victim, who was then 15, did not provide a full disclosure to officers as she was fearful of what may happen to Aldridge.
Christopher Aldridge was cautioned and charged but no action was taken by the Crown at that stage.
However, in March 2021, after an incident had triggered old memories, the victim gave a second statement to the police revealing the full extent of what had occurred.
Sentencing had been deferred for a social work report and it “didn’t make for particularly good reading” conceded defence solicitor Stephen Morrison.
Sheriff Charles Macnair agreed, noting that Christopher Aldridge had described the nine-year-old girl’s game of tag as “sexual provocation”.
Mr Morrison admitted there was “a high degree of victim-blaming” and that the report’s author had rightly concluded the behaviour was sexually motivated.
“He says it began as a silly game but innocent behaviour changed to a point where it was anything but that,” added the solicitor.
Sheriff Macnair told Christopher Aldridge that the report “makes it abundantly clear that you blame her,” adding: “She was far too young to be blamed for anything.”
He went on: “You show no remorse apart from remorse about being caught. Even now you minimise what you have done.”
The sheriff jailed Christopher Aldridge for four and a half years.
An indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order was imposed on Christopher Aldridge and he was also put on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.
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