Former Melton sailing instructor sentenced for indecent assaults

John Ridlington (62) appeared at Leicester Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty at a hearing last month to three counts of assaulting a girl aged under 16, between December 1, 1992, and November 30, 1994.

His Honour Judge Spencer QC gave Ridlington a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for a year, and fined him £500 in court costs.

He was given a 12-month sentence for one count and six months for each of the other two, with the sentences to be served concurrently.

Ridlington, who now lives in Bleasby, Nottinghamshire, has also been placed on the sex offenders register and cannot take any jobs involving children for 10 years.

The victim of his assaults, who was aged between 13 and 15 when the offences were committed, is now a 42-year-old mother-of-two.

She approached the Melton Times last month to tell us how the assaults had effectively ‘taken away her childhood’.

In the 30 years since the offences, the woman says she has suffered severe mental health problems, she has self-harmed and has been heavily medicated.

It was two years ago when she was finally persuaded to report the assaults, which started after Ridlington was giving her one-to-one sailing instruction in a boat at the club’s former Frisby Water Park headquarters.

Following the sentencing hearing, the victim, who does not want to give her name, told the Melton Times: “I feel happy with the fact he is now convicted and is on the child sex offenders register, which prevents him from preying on vulnerable children again, although I don’t think the sentences reflect his crimes.

“The fact he pleaded not guilty for two years then changed his plea three days before trial speaks for itself.

“I would go through the process again to protect other children from him.”

The woman said she naively thought she was in a relationship at the time with her abuser, who was aged in his 30s and married with children when the offences were committed.

She added: “I know how horrific it is to go through the process of reporting but I encourage anyone who has suffered at the hands of a sexual predator to fight all the way for justice.

“I can’t thank my partner and children enough for supporting me throughout.

“I am very proud of myself for keeping going and fighting for what is right.”

The woman was 12 when she joined the sailing club, which closed in 2012 after being evicted by its landlords to make way for holiday lodges to be built there.