Cambridge paedophile who sexually assaulted young girls and filmed others jailed for 26 years
A paedophile from Cambridge who sexually assaulted two young girls, including a toddler, has been jailed for more than two decades.
Anthony Goodridge, 59, of Ramsden Square, also filmed another girl and secretly recorded a fourth victim showering and getting changed.
He was arrested in October 2023 after one of the girls confided in someone she trusted.
In a police interview, he claimed that touching the girl, who was under 10 at the time, was accidental and not sexual. He tried to blame someone else for the abuse.
Two phones seized by police were analysed and found to contain indecent images of children.
He had 716 category C images, 356 category B images and 416 category A images – the most severe.
Among them was a category C video and indecent images that Goodridge had filmed himself, showing another girl under 10.
When further arrested on suspicion of making indecent images of children, Goodridge likened his addiction to such material to that of a “junkie”.
He said viewing the material was a “fantasy” and that he got a “high” from doing so because it was illegal, not because he gained any sexual pleasure.
He admitted taking video and photos of the girl naked, but claimed he did not think they were indecent as not all of her was visible.
When asked again about the sexual abuse of his first victim, he changed his story, admitting he had touched her once, but not for sexual gratification.
Officers asked him if he had sexually touched other children. He paused and then confessed to sexually assaulting another girl when she was two to three years old.
He told police he had restrained the toddler and sexually abused her before masturbating, and had filmed the entire incident on a camera.
Another video found on the devices had been filmed in a bathroom, showing a teenage girl showering and getting changed.
Before she entered the bathroom, Goodridge was seen on the footage looking into the camera repeatedly and checking its position.
When interviewed about it, Goodridge admitted to filming the teenager in 2016 and repeatedly stated that she was an “attractive young lady”.
Goodridge later admitted 16 offences including:
- three counts of sexual assault on a girl under 13 by penetration;
- four counts of sexual assault on a girl under 13 by touching;
- six counts of making an indecent image of a child;
- two counts of taking indecent images of a child; and
- one count of voyeurism.
He was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court on Wednesday (9 October) where he was handed a total of 26 years in prison.
A restraining order preventing him from contacting his victims, and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to monitor future offending, both of which last indefinitely.
Sentencing him, Judge Matthew Lowe said Goodridge chose to gratify his "depraved sexual interest in children" with no regard to the consequences of this on others, prioritising acting on this interest above everything else.
Judge Lowe added that the number of victims, the amount of offences and the degree of planning involved in Goodridge’s behaviour highlighted his “entrenched and deep-rooted sexual interest in children”.
Det Con Molly Halksworth, from the force’s Child Abuse Investigation and Safeguarding Unit (CAISU), said: “Goodridge’s sexual abuse of his victims was nothing short of horrific; he abused their trust in the worst possible way.
“The full scale of his abuse only came to light when he was asked in interview if he had abused anyone else. What happened next, and the abuse he disclosed, is something hard to forget.
“We are pleased Goodridge has now been brought to justice and we hope the sentence imposed gives his victims and their families some closure from this traumatic period in their lives.
“Protecting young people from harm is one of our top priorities and we have specially trained officers who are there to support victims and bring offenders to justice.”
For information and advice about child abuse visit the force’s dedicated web page.
Anyone concerned someone may have been convicted of a sex offence, and could be posing a risk to a child, can apply for disclosure information through Sarah’s Law. Anyone who looks out for the welfare of a child can make an enquiry. This can include parents, carers, guardians, extended family, friends and neighbours.