‘A corrupt police officer who abused his profession’: Retired policeman convicted of sex charges

A former Aberdeen police officer has been found guilty of sexual charges and indecent behaviour involving underage girls.

Gordon Raeper, who was a serving officer at the time of his offences, was convicted at Aberdeen Sheriff Court of four charges relating to girls as young as 12 between 1984 and 2004.

It took a jury of eight women and seven men less than two hours to find Raeper, 66, guilty of the majority of charges against him.

He was acquitted on one sexual assault charge and two physical assault charges.

Outside court, one of Raepers victims described him as a “corrupt police officer” who “abused his profession”.

“He’s a paedophile who shouldn’t have done what he did,” she said.

“I’m just delighted we’ve finally stopped him. This has been the hardest time of my life but we did it.”

Upon hearing the jury’s verdict, Sheriff Ian Wallace warned Raeper that a prison sentence was “at the forefront of the court’s mind”.

Former policeman also found guilty of sex extortion

Raeper, who was a serving police officer in Aberdeen and Forres for 27 years, faced a total of seven charges involving two children and three women.

He was found guilty 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.

The former cop, who also served in the Dragoon Guards, touched himself in the girl’s presence and attempted 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.

The woman, now understood to be in her 50s, claimed that she had reported the serving officer to Grampian Police in the mid-1990s, but that no investigation was ever carried out. 

Raeper was further convicted of threatening to expose a lesbian relationship that a woman was having with a co-worker unless both of them had a threesome with him.

However, he was found not guilty of physical assault against two women and one charge of sexual assault.

‘It’s clear that the impact on your victims has been considerable’

During final her final speech to the jury, fiscal depute Christy Ward quoted one of Raeper’s victims, who said: “He’s the law. He can get out of anything”.

Ms Ward added: “Gordon Raeper is a man who used his position as a serving police officer to do what he wanted in the belief that his position in society would allow him to get away with the acts alleged on the indictment.”

Raeper’s defence counsel Andrew Crosbie had also addressed the jury in an attempt to separate his client’s sexual preferences from the offences he faced.

He said: “Let me be clear about the elephant in the room.

“This trial is not about whether Gordon Raeper gets his kicks by wearing PVC underpants.

“It’s not about whether he, of anyone else, is or isn’t into masochism, bondage or anything else you care to mention.

“That is not a crime.”

Upon hearing the jury’s verdict, Mr Crosbie then called for reports to be carried out into his client’s background before sentencing.

Sheriff Wallace told Raeper: “You have been convicted of very serious offences involving females over a number of years.

“It’s clear that the impact on your victims has been considerable.”

The sheriff granted Raeper bail and deferred sentence on him in order for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment to be carried out.

He also placed Raeper, of Dunshillock, Mintlaw, on the sex offenders’ register.

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