A retired north-east police officer has been jailed for more than three years after a jury found him guilty of sex offences involving underage girls and women.
Gordon Raeper, who was a serving officer at the time of his offences, was found guilty following a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court of charges relating to girls as young as 12 between 1984 and 2004.
The 66-year-old was convicted of two charges of wearing bondage gear and exposing himself to a 12-year-old girl between November 2000 and November 2004.
The court heard he asked her to attach chains to his wrists and ankles and place a ball-gag in his mouth.
One of Raeper’s victims, now 33, wept outside court upon hearing that her abuser would serve three years and six months behind bars.
The woman described the length of Raeper’s sentence as an “absolute shock” and said she was “relieved”.
She added: “I’m just glad that he’s gone and that he is being punished – now I can hopefully feel less punished by what he did.
“This is now a bit of closure for me at last.”
She also encouraged other victims of historic sex offences to “come forward when they’re ready”.
Raeper, who was a serving police officer in Aberdeen and Forres for 27 years, was also found guilty of one charge of extorting two women for sex.
Sheriff Ian Wallace told Raeper that as a police officer he had sought to silence his victims but that his “true nature” had now been revealed.
Raeper, who also served in the Dragoon Guards, was found guilty of touching himself in one girl’s presence and attempting to get her to watch an indecent video.
He was also convicted of showing pictures from the book The Joy of Sex to an underage girl and asking her if she saw “anything she fancied?” on various occasions between April 1984 and April 1985.
He then attempted to kiss the child and touch her private parts.
Raeper was further convicted of threatening to expose a lesbian relationship that a woman was having with a co-worker unless both had a threesome with him.
However, he was found not guilty at the trial of physical assault against two women and one charge of sexual assault.
Raeper’s defence counsel Andrew Crosbie said: “I do not seek to minimise the gravity of what my client was convicted of but mention the passage of time, in particular.
“While his behaviour was no doubt bizarre in its nature, it was perhaps not as severe as it might have been in similar cases of this nature.
“In that sense, this case could perhaps be distinguishable from cases of this type.”
However, Sheriff Wallace told Raeper he was satisfied that “only a custodial sentence was appropriate”.
“You were convicted of a course of a serious course of sexual offending against females,” he said.
“It was offending that stretched over many years against both children and adults and included offending against visitors to your home.
“The evidence was clear that you committed this sexual offending for your own gratification and it was equally strikingly clear that your acts were designed to degrade your victims.
“Furthermore, you sought to abuse your standing within the community as a police officer in order to be able to carry out your offending and to ensure the silence of your victims.
“When your victims were no longer silent and they gave their evidence your true nature was revealed and the serious nature of your offending and its lasting impact on your victims was clear. ”
Sheriff Wallace sentenced Raeper, of Dunshillock, Mintlaw, also placed him on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
Sheriff Wallace also put a non-harassment order in place meaning the former police officer couldn’t approach his four victims for 10 years.
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