A BAPTIST who sexually abused two girls when he was still in his teens wrote to one victim asking forgiveness for having “behaved improperly” towards her.

Ben Kinderman, 38, was 15 or 16 when he carried out the vile assaults on the two girls at his parents’ farm near Marlborough in the late 1990s.

Vile assaults

Prosecutor Barnaby Shaw told Swindon Crown Court on Thursday that Kinderman had grown up in a Baptist household.

He had admitted molesting his older victim, who was no older than 10 at the time of the assaults, on three occasions.

Kinderman took her to isolated locations on the farm, touching her sexually near a bonfire while they were alone. She was said to have suffered extreme pain as a result of the ordeal and he continued despite her pleas that he stop.

On another occasion, when they were playing table tennis in the cowshed, he got her to collect a ball that had been hit far into the next shed so he could paw her as he lifted her over the wall dividing the sheds.

He also molested her in the back of a car on a journey – despite the presence of others in the vehicle.

The younger girl, who was around six, said she had been touched sexually by Kinderman as she lay in a bed with him. There were others in the room.

Letter

In a letter to the older victim, sent in 2009 while she was at university and shortly before his baptism, Kinderman told her he hoped he had been forgiven for having “behaved improperly”.

He said it would be "a mercy" to feel that God was able to forgive sinners who are truly repentant.

Interviewed by the police in 2020, he suggested what he had been doing was "experimenting". He accepted it had been wholly wrong of him to do what he did.

In a victim statement, the older girl said she felt he had completely minimised what he did and the effect his actions had. She had suffered breakdowns at university as a result of his letter.

The second victim said the abuse had left her with the mentality of wanting to please men, leading to a series of unhealthy relationships. She said she felt guilty about not being aware of what the older girl was going through.

'The guilt lies with you'

Sending Kinderman to prison for three years on Thursday afternoon, Judge Crabtree told the defendant: “She has nothing to be guilty for. The guilt lies with one person in this courtroom and that is you.”

He said of the man's older victim: “It is clear that your abuse of her has had a very real and enduring impact upon her health. She recalls at the time and as a teenager being unable to sleep and believing she would be unable to marry and have children.

“She was terrified of anyone finding out about what you were doing as she believed what she had done was wrong.

“Of course, there was only one person who was doing wrong and that was you; even as a 15 or 16-year-old youth.”

Mitigation

Mitigating, Mark Kelly QC highlighted his client’s youth at the time of the offending and genuine remorse. Custody would have a significant impact on him, his wife and large family.

He was a professional engineer and had been told he would lose his job if he were sent to prison. He had been invested as a deacon at his Strict Baptist chapel, although had stepped back from the role.

Kinderman, of Streatham, London, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to four counts of indecent assault. He has been sent to prison for three years, he must register as a sex offender for life and he will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely.

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For news updates straight to your inbox, sign up to our court and crime newsletter here.