DOCTOR’S TEEN SEX SESSION SHAME
MARRIED RADIOLOGIST GOT GIRL, 15, TO SEND NAKED PHOTOS BEFORE MEETING UP
A MARRIED doctor met up with a 15-year-old girl for oral sex in a car while his wife was pregnant.
Paediatric radiologist Jonathan Bainbridge met the underage girl in an online chat room and traded explicit pictures with her, a court heard.
The 39 year old then drove more than 180 miles from his Cardiff home to meet up with the teenager, who asked him: “Do you promise you won’t hurt me or take me away?”
He started messaging her on a messaging app and she sent him explicit pictures and videos of herself. He then drove up to Mochdre, Conwy, where he engaged in oral sex with the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The married father-of-two said the girl had told him she was 16 and she presented as such when they met and when he was told by police her true age he was “ashamed”.
As a result of his offending he has been suspended from his job, faces being struck off, and has had to move out of the family home after conditions were put in place by social services.
A sentencing hearing at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard Bainbridge’s behaviour came to light after the girl told carers she had had a sexual encounter with a man she met online.
Prosecutor Roger Griffiths QC said the defendant started sending messages to the girl on March 19, 2017, using a profile with the name CardiffBoyJB.
He asked the girl’s age and where she was from and she told him she was 16 but she told him she was still in school. They also sent innocuous pictures of themselves to each other.
The conversation carried on over a number of days and the defendant asked the girl if there was “anywhere decent” to stay in her area and asked her to meet but at this stage the girl said she was unavailable.
Bainbridge’s messages became more sexual in nature and he asked the girl what size her breasts were and if she was “smooth down below”.
He asked her again for a picture and, after she sent another innocuous photo, he said: “I was hoping for a naughty one”.
The girl then sent an explicit video of herself and the defendant sent her a picture of his genitals. She then sent a photo of her breasts, the court heard.
Bainbridge drove up to meet her on March 26, 2017, and he and the girl engaged in oral sex in his car. When he returned home further conversation took place between the two about how they enjoyed the encounter.
Mr Griffiths said: “[Bainbridge] has a reasonable belief she was over the age of 16 and having seen the photograph of her she does look that age.”
The defendant was arrested and told police he at no point knew she was 15 but he admitted to exchanging messages and meeting up with her for oral sex.
In his interview he said: “If I had known she was 15 I wouldn’t have gone past the first conversation.”
He later pleaded guilty to possessing a Category A moving image of a child under 16 and of possessing a Category C indecent image of a child.
Defence barrister David Elias said Bainbridge was “extremely ashamed” and had “extreme remorse” for what he had done, particularly to his wife who was pregnant at the time of the offence.
During the birth of their second child last year there were conditions put in place as a result of the allegations which caused extreme upset to him and his wife, he added.
Mr Elias said: “He has lost a great deal – he has lost his good character, he has lost his employment, he was someone respected in his field and still respected in that field.”
The court heard Bainbridge had self-referred himself to the General Medical Council and The Living Centre, a community-based recovery centre in Cardiff, to help deal with his addiction to internet chat rooms.
Sentencing him the Recorder of Cardiff Judge Eleri Rees told the defendant he would not be receiving an immediate custodial sentence.
Bainbridge, of Cathedral Road, Cardiff, was sentenced to an 18-month community order with a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.
He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for five years and ordered to pay £1,200 in court costs.