UK: Paramedic who pretended to be gay jailed for raping women
A male paramedic who pretended he was gay in order to get close to his female victims has been jailed for 12 years.
Christopher Bridger was previously found guilty of one count of rape and four other sex offences after a 12-day trial at Guildford Crown Court.
The jury heard Bridger, of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, attacked several women over the course of many years.
He has been told he will serve at least half of his sentence, and that he would serve the remainder on licence. He will spend three years on licence upon release.
Three women made allegations of sex attacks after he began working at the South East Coast Ambulance NHS Service.
One woman, a lesbian, accused him of attacking her in a hotel room after she had got drunk at a work Christmas party in December 2011.
Bridger, of York Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, denied the allegations, accusing all of his victims of lying.
However, he was convicted by a jury of seven men and four women after four hours of deliberation.
The disgraced paramedic was acquitted of two further charges of sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault.
Bridger will be sentenced at Guildford Crown Court on 5 September.
Detective Constable Claire Hastings – from the Metropolitan Police’s Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, which investigated Bridger alongside Surrey Police – said after his conviction: “These were traumatic incidents for the victims and they have showed an immense amount of courage in coming forward and reporting their experiences.
