Former Tennis Captain Convicted Of Sexually Abusing Two Boys, Arrested For Child Pornography

A 65-year-old born-again Christian from London, U.K., who claimed to have helped "thousands of people,” has received a 5-year jail sentence for molesting two young boys over a 20-year period.

John Ridley, a retired stock broker from the town of Barnet, was found guilty by Southwark Crown Court of indecently assaulting one victim between March 1987 and March 1995 when he was aged six to 13, the National Crime Agency (NCA) revealed Friday.

Additionally, he was also convicted of two counts of sexually touching a second boy between June 2004 and May 2008 when the victim was aged 12 to 15.

According to the NCA, Ridley had access to the victims through a local tennis club and a church-run youth charity that he participated in.

"John Ridley abused his position of trust to get close to these young boys and sexually assault them over many years," NCA operations manager Martin Ludlow was quoted as saying in the statement.

"It was a gross betrayal of the faith placed in him and he has shown no remorse for his actions," he added.

Ridley was arrested by law enforcement personnel on Feb. 2, 2018 as he landed at Heathrow Airport from a flight from Peru on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children, the NCA said.

Following the arrest, authorities discovered over 2,000 images of young boys who were variously naked and/or wearing their underpants.

According to the NCA statement, Ridley was convicted on the sexual abuse charges in February and received his jail sentence in April.

Allegations of abuse were brought up by the first victim several weeks after Ridley's arrest, who claimed Ridley spanked him between 2004 and 2008 while Ridley was a captain at a north London tennis club that the boy played in.

Ridley, who reportedly gave the boy money for playing in adult doubles matches when they were short on players, told the boy he owed him £200 ($280) and that he would spank the minor if he did not pay. He then drove the victim to a forest and sexually assaulted him.

The second victim spoke up in September 2018 and told the NCA that Ridley repeatedly sexually assaulted him when he attended a church-run youth charity — Crusaders — when he was a boy.

He claimed Ridley used to give out money to boys, but he would beat them for misbehavior. Ridley would then drive boys somewhere secluded with his car and put them face down in his crotch before spanking them.

In an interview with NCA officers, Ridley said, "I help hundreds of people, yes, perhaps even thousands of people I should think... by providing churches for them, providing food for them, providing medical care for them, providing all sorts of things for them."

Ridley was scheduled to stand trial on May 28 on 16 counts of making indecent photographs of children, but the Crown Prosecution Service discontinued the charges. Prosecutors, however, pointed out that the charges will lie on file.

The NCA said Ridley has been made to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely and was given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. He is also banned from working with children or vulnerable adults.