Paedophile ex-RUC officer who propositioned young girl jailed

Ordering 61-year-old Raymond Keith Lindsay to spend half his sentence in jail and half under supervised licence conditions, Downpatrick Crown Court Judge Neil Rafferty QC praised an NSPCC-run project which he said assisted “in the armouring of our children to recognise how to behave when they’re put in a compromising position by an adult”.

The work done by schools, teachers, parents and the NSPCC “is at the forefront of safeguarding our children going forward,” declared the judge, adding that “the fact that this young girl recognised the scenario and dealt with it appropriately by removing herself, for me, is one of the high points of this case”.

At an earlier hearing Lindsay, a former RUC inspector with an address at Moygashel Park in Dungannon, entered guilty pleas to inciting a female child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and to breaching his court imposed Sexual Offences Prevention Order by communicating with a child at Castlewellan Forest Park on July 26 last year.

Rehearsing the facts during his sentencing remarks, Judge Rafferty described how the girl had been staying at the park with her parents and was on her way back from the toilet block when Lindsay propositioned her.

Judge Rafferty said it was clear the young victim had been “quite badly affected by the incident” while Lindsay himself had been previously convicted of similar offences and breaches of his life-long SOPO.

It was not opened in court but paedophile Lindsay was first jailed as long ago as 1994 when he was handed a six-year sentence for 16 sex offences including indecent assault, gross indecency and indecent exposure.

He was arrested after a 70mph high-speed chase through the streets of east Belfast.

A court was later told that he used his position as an RUC inspector to target his vulnerable victims.

His life-long SOPO, which prohibits Lindsay from entering amusement arcades and beaches, and from loitering in forest parks and caravan sites, was put in place in 2012 after he was spotted hanging around Tollymore Park in Newcastle and Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor.