Former trainee paramedic gets 12 years for sexually assaulting 'drunk and vulnerable' Surrey women, who he befriended by pretending to be gay
A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment at Guildford Crown Court today (Friday 5 September) having been previously found guilty of five sexual assaults on three female victims across Surrey and London. He will also serve three years on licence when he is released.
Christopher Bridger (pictured), who is described by Surrey Police as a 'sexual predator', targeted vulnerable women he worked and studied with under the pretence that he was gay.
He would become close to his young female victims, who believed he was their friend, taking them into his confidence and then sexually assaulting them when they were drunk and at their most vulnerable.
Bridger appeared at Guildford Crown Court on 30 July 2014 and following a 13-day trial he was convicted on a total of five charges, four of which relate to offences which took place at locations in Addlestone, Walton-on-Thames and Epsom over an 18-month period.
Bridger was found guilty of sexually assaulting two of his co-workers in 2011 and 2012 while he was working with the South East Coast Ambulance NHS Service.
He was also found guilty of one count of rape while he was studying at St George's Hospital in London between 2008 and 2009. Bridger was found not guilty of two further counts of sexual assault.
Following the allegations officers from Surrey Police's Sexual Offences Investigation Team launched a joint investigation with colleagues from the Metropolitan Police Service which led to Bridger being arrested in January 2013 charged with the offences in September 2013.
"I would like to commend the victims in this case for their bravery in coming forward to speak out about what he did to them" said Investigating officer PC Rhiannon Barton-Wolfe, from Surrey Police's Sexual Offences Investigation Team.
"I have no doubt that Bridger would have carried on offending had the victims not reported him to police."