UK: Paramedic who pretended he was gay found guilty of raping women
A male paramedic who pretended he was gay in order to get close to his female victims has been convicted of rape.
Christopher Bridger was 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.
Get Surrey reports 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.
Recorder Mark Milliken-Smith told Bridger: “You have been convicted by this jury of some very serious sexual offences.
“The consequence of that conviction is inevitably a lengthy custodial sentence.”
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.
“Their bravery in coming forward and supporting this investigation has been pivotal in seeing Bridger being convicted.
“Bridger is a predator and a confidence trickster who abused the trust these women had in him.
“He purported to be their friend and deceitfully set out to gain their trust by lulling them into a false sense of security by claiming to be gay.
“Bridger took advantage of these women when they were at their most vulnerable.”
