A CHILD abuser described as an “appalling alcoholic” has been jailed for a series of assaults on young girls.

Christopher Waldram, 43, of Masons Road, Headington, was convicted in September of 11 counts of indecent assault on four girls.

At his sentencing, Oxford Crown Court was told one of his victims was just six years old.

All 11 counts happened during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Judge Anthony King sentenced Waldram, who has shaved his beard off since this photograph was taken, to four years in jail.

Rachael Drake, prosecuting, told the court Waldram warned his four young victims that if they told their family or friends about the abuse no one would believe them and he would shout at them.

She added: “The defendant’s behaviour towards all these young women has had a detrimental effect on them in a variety of ways.”

Ms Drake told the court Waldram abused one of the girl’s in a mobile home and a second after creeping into her bedroom.

A third was repeatedly abused while he sat with her on a sofa.

Nigel Daly, defending, told the court Waldram – who is married and a father-of-one – was illiterate, but had been learning to read and write while in prison awaiting sentence.

Waldram is also attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to combat his heavy drinking.

Mr Daly said: “He has absolutely no indication of doing anything like this again and he does not consider himself to be an evil or nasty person.

“This is somebody who was an appalling alcoholic and extremely depressed in a very depressing situation.

“It doesn’t excuse what he did, but it may be his time in prison and the programmes he undertakes and with the extremely strong personality of his wife, we will never see this offending again.”

Judge King described the abuse as “sexual fondling”, adding the offences were at the lower end of the scale of child abuse.

But Waldram’s denial, which meant all four victims had to give evidence, aggravated what had occurred, Judge King added.

Waldram was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

The mother of two of Waldram’s victims said she was “disgusted” by the leniency of Waldram’s sentence.

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the Oxford Mail: “It’s one year’s sentence for each of the four child victims, which seems very lenient to me.

“When he is released I don’t want to see him around Oxford, but I’m worried I will.

“My girls had to give evidence on a video screen, which was quite an ordeal, although they are very strong-willed.

“At some point I hope the whole family will be able to forget what we have been through and put it behind us, but we will never be able to forgive this man for what he did.”

mwilkinson@oxfordmail.co.uk