A former social worker wept today (MON) as he was

A former social worker wept today (MON) as he was jailed for 18 months for abusing girls in his care.

Hugh Christie, 55, forced one teenager to have a bath and scrub herself raw, and terrified another by creeping into her room at night to molest her.

Ex-Samaritan Christie targeted girls at Hollycroft Children’s Home, Essex, where he worked.

He was today cleared of 12 charges involving four girls – including three rapes and seven indecent assaults.

But he was caged for 18 months after being convicted at an earlier trial for indecent assault and child cruelty.

Judge Derek Inman told former probation officer Christie: ‘These girls were very vulnerable, and all had problems.

‘Hollycroft should have been a safe haven from their troubled lives where they could have a peaceful period, take stock of things, and properly prepare for the future.

‘You had a big responsibility to achieve that – a position of trust and responsibility.

‘The public is entitled to expect such homes to be safe from the sort of abuse the girls sent there have frequently been subjected to earlier in their lives.

‘

Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court in central London heard how married Christie was number three in charge at Hollycroft, near Chelmsford, from 1978 to 1981.

But during his time their, he abused two teenage girls sent for assessment.

One was 14 when she ran away one day, and on her return Christie dreamt up a revolting ‘punishment’.

Prosecutor Prab Virdi said: ‘He ordered her to take her clothes off in front of him.

‘She was then made to get into a bath, saying she was a bad girl and she was dirty.

‘He made her scrub herself until she was sore.

That made her frightened of the defendant.

‘

The second victim – aged just 13 – had only been in the home for a one or two days when Christie pounced.

He sneaked into her room calling her name, but the girl was so scared she pretended to be asleep.

Christie then began stroking her cheek, and when she opened her eyes he ran his fingers over her lower lip.

Miss Virdi said: ‘There followed a number of occasions when the defendant would repeat the behaviour.

‘He would stroke her face and neck.

At one stage he unbuttoned the bottom of her night shirt and lifted it to one side.

‘

Christie had broken down in tears as he was cleared of three rapes, seven indecent assaults, one charge of child cruelty, and one of making a threat to kill.

The court had heard allegations from four former residents at the home who claimed they were abused by him.

One said she was raped in his car and forced to perform sex acts in her room later at night, and another claimed Christie took perverted photos of her naked.

A third said he attacked her in woods at the home, and the other girl told the court Christie groped her during swimming lessons.

But a jury found Christie not guilty after he said the girls made the stories up.

He has already served five months in jail, so is due for release in four months.

Defence barrister Christopher Sallon, QC, said he would be appealing against the earlier convictions because new evidence has come to light.

Christie, of Orchard Road, Chessington, Surrey, worked as a probation officer from 1992 but was dismissed when the allegations came to light in 1998.

In 1990 he landed a job as a manager of the social work department at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Fulham, south-west London, looking after cancer patients.

In his closing speech Mr Sallon had asked the jury to take the utmost care before believing the evidence of the complainants in the trial.

‘The police were convinced they had a big case on their hands and they pursued it.

They believed he was the perpetrator of sexual assaults,’ Mr Sallon said.

Mr Sallon said the prosecution have tried ‘to make Mr Christie appear as some kind of tyrant’.

‘But there is no evidence that Christie intimidated staff, frightened them or that they allowed him to run the show,’ he said.

ends