EX-RUC INSPECTOR JAILED GIRL AGED 8 WAS PROPOSITIONED IN A FOREST PARK
Paedophile propositioned eight-year-old girl in park
A DISGRACED former police officer turned paedophile who propositioned a young girl in a caravan park has been jailed.
Raymond Keith Lindsay (61) was ordered to spend half his 28-month sentence in jail and half under supervised licence.
Downpatrick Crown Court Judge Neil Rafferty QC praised the NSPCC, which he said assisted “in the armouring of our children to recognise how to behave when they’re put in a compromising position by an adult.”
The work done by schools, teachers, parents and the NSPCC “is at the forefront of safeguarding our children going forward”, declared the judge.
Lindsay, a former RUC inspector with an address at Moygashel Park in Dungannon, had previously pleaded guilty to inciting a female child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and breaching his court-imposed Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
A previous court heard he had approached the child of eight at Castlewellan Forest Park on July 26 last year.
Speaking outside the court, the girl’s parents said they were “just glad it’s all over.”
“It’s more about making sure your child is able to come to you and tell you anything. You have to be really open with children,” they said. “It could have been a whole different story. Any other child that day and it could’ve been a different story.”
Lindsay had initially faced further similar charges accusing him of breaching the SOPO by driving a car, riding a bicycle and by being in the forest park on the same date but, following his confessions, those allegations were left on the books.
Yesterday Judge Rafferty described how the girl had been staying at the park with her parents and was on her way back
from the toilet block when Lindsay approached her and tried to engage her in conversation.
“The defendant asked her to go into the bushes and he would take his pants off,” the judge outlined,
adding that thankfully the young girl managed to alert her parents instead.
The judge said it was clear the victim had been “quite badly affected by the incident” while Lindsay himself had been previously convicted of similar offences and breaches of his life-long SOPO.
Lindsay was first jailed as long ago as 1994 when he was handed a six-year sentence for 16 sex offences including indecent assault, gross indecency and indecent exposure.
He was arrested after a 70mph high-speed chase through the streets of east Belfast.
A court was later told that he used his position as an RUC inspector to target his vulnerable victims, approaching schoolgirls and asking them if they needed help, before abusing them.
On other occasions he would sit half-naked in his car with a pornographic magazine at his side, beckon girls over and expose himself.
A prosecution lawyer said that, when he was jailed, the paedophile policeman never expressed any “remorse, regret or concern for his victims”.
As well as being an RUC inspector, Lindsay was also a staff officer to the Deputy Chief Constable.
While on day release from Magilligan Prison in 1996, Lindsay was convicted of assaulting a woman in Co Monaghan and stealing her clothes.
His life-long SOPO was put in place in 2012 after the pervert was spotted hanging around Tollymore Park in Newcastle and Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor.
Yesterday Judge Rafferty made it clear that even when he is released, Lindsay will be subject to strict licence conditions which means that any breach of them will result in him going back to prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence.
Lindsay was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for the next 10 years.
Senior officers from the PSNI’s Public Protection Branch have welcomed Lindsay’s conviction.
Detective Constable Micky Meehan praised the girl’s bravery and that of her family, saying: “Throughout this difficult time they have displayed immense courage and fortitude.”
He added: “Officers in PSNI Public Protection Branch are committed to investigating all reports of sexual offences against children and young people. We will seek to place offenders before the courts so they can be made amenable for their crimes.”