A PAEDOPHILE who thirty years ago raped a popular, intelligent 15-year-old girl, leaving her “devastated”, was jailed today.

Ronald Aldridge, 65, abused his position as caretaker to groom teenage girls for sex with “kisses and sweet talk” while working at a school in the borough, Harrow Crown Court heard.

He raped one victim while she cried out in pain and then pursued a relationship that destroyed her school life in the weeks that followed.

The court heard how she would disappear at lunch time to have consensual sex with him. In a statement read out in court she said: “School became a nightmare because I was chased around by the school caretaker Ronald Aldridge.”

Describing the rape, Judge Stephen Holt said: “She was pleading with you not to rape her, she was crying out that it hurt, but you went on and raped her anyway.”

He said the defendant only stopped “long after it must have been obvious to you that you were hurting her both physically and mentally.”

He added: “The effect on her can be summed up in one word – devastated. It's dominated her life, it continues to dominate her life.”

She went from being a popular, happy, successful and outgoing pupil to losing friends, underachieving in lessons and becoming introverted.

To this day she feels her life was changed forever, police say.

Aldridge, of Bushey Heath, was handed a nine-year sentence for one count of rape of the 15-year-old, but the court heard she was not the only victim.

He groomed a string of underage girls for consensual sex and during his trial, relationships with two other pupils were described in the form of bad character references.

The police were able to prove his abuse of the 15-year-old decades later because she kept diaries and he left her love letters in her locker, which laid bare in chilling detail the grooming process he used.

Judge Holt said: “I am sentencing you for one count but when I am assessing your culpability I have to take into account that this was not a one-off incident of madness.”

He added: “You were in a position of trust and you had access to these young, vulnerable girls at a very vulnerable time in their life.

“I think that is in my view an aggravating factor.”

Franco Tizzano, defending Aldridge, described his client as a “shattered" and “defeated" man.

He said the defendant raped his victim when he was “much, much younger” and years have passed without him committing other offences.

He said the jail time handed to Aldridge would also have consequences for his family, who have lost their home.

The caretaker was still working in the borough at a different school, Pinner Park Primary, when he was arrested and was suspended as soon as the school became aware of the allegations.

He is no longer working there and there is no suggestion any children at Pinner Park were abused by him.