Paedo cop who bought girl, 13, teddies before molesting her is jailed

A retired policeman who repeatedly indecently assaulted a schoolgirl after grooming her four decades ago has been jailed for seven years.

David Surridge was 30 and a special constable when he had sexual encounters with the girl on a 'weekly basis' in the 1980s.

A court heard Surridge, who went on to become a PC, met her when she moved near to his marital home – and plied the child with gifts, alcohol and cigarettes before molesting her between the ages of 13 and 16.

Warwick Crown Court heard the victim eventually came forward in 2022 after a 'lightbulb moment' watching a television programme in which a girl was groomed.

Surridge, 70, who retired from policing in 2014 after a 24 year career as a PC, admitted six counts of indecent assault.

In a statement, the victim, who is a mother, said: 'I realised what happened was not my fault.

'What he did was so wrong. As a policeman I trusted him and believed everything he said. Now it feels like he has ruined my life.'

The court heard the incidents began in 1984 in Warwick and developed over a four-year period until the girl turned 16 and began a relationship with a serious boyfriend of her own age.

Matthew Barnes, prosecuting, said: 'He would groom her by, for example, buying her presents, teddies, cards with romantic sayings. He made her musical tapes of love songs.

'She would skip school to see him. He took her for picnics in the countryside. 

'Sometimes they would drink alcohol together. He gave her cigarettes.

'He would park up in the countryside in afternoons for sexual activity.'

Mr Barnes added: 'Sometimes he took her to his garage at weekends which was away from his house for sexual activity.'

In evidence, the woman, who cannot be named, told police that Surridge was 'charming' to her and did not 'force' her to engage in sexual acts.

Summarising her evidence, Mr Barnes said: 'For years she blamed herself for being a naughty teenager, until as an adult she came to realise she had been groomed and she had been a victim.

'She felt that she had been controlled and kept her mouth shut.'

Surridge, who became a PC in 1990, had no previous convictions. Not guilty pleas to one count of rape and an additional count of indecent assault were ordered to lie on file.

Adam Western, defending, told the court: 'He has asked me to say today how much he deeply regrets what he did to her and how sorry he is for the harm he has caused her.

'He is now an old man who is about to experience prison for the first time. The prospect of prison terrifies him.

'He will be more vulnerable than others going to prison, not just because of his age but because of his previous role as a police constable.'

Sentencing, Judge Sylvia de Bertodano told Surridge: 'She was still 12 years old when you told her you were in love with her. it was at that stage you started to touch her sexually.

'This was a situation with a much older man, you at the time being a special constable, and someone she clearly looked up to.

'You groomed her by flattering her and talking to her and treating her like an adult when she was very clearly still a child. '

The judge said she was 'much, much too young to engage in any sort of sexual activity - least of all with a man in his 30s.'

She told Surridge, of Coventry: 'If you're having sexually activity with a child of 12 or 13 you are robbing them of their childhood and that's what you did in this case.'