Bridegroom who raped girl, 14, on his wedding night is jailed for 18 years (photo)

Jailed: William Jordan was sentenced to 18 years in jail for raping two girls in the 1970s

A bridegroom who raped a teenage girl on his wedding night while his pregnant wife slept in the next room was jailed for 18 years today.

William Jordan carried out the sickening attack when he was 18 after tying the knot at Hammersmith town hall in west London.

The newlywed couple had spent the night celebrating at a friend’s home with other friends and family before turning in.

He had snuck out of the bed he was sharing with his wife and raped a 14-year-old girl.

His victim was too terrified to tell anyone what had happened and blocked out the memory for years to come.

Jordan, who is now 59, has finally been brought to justice 41 years after the attack, which took place on April 20, 1973.

In 1977 Jordan began abusing another young girl when she came to babysit his two children once a month, the Old Bailey heard.

When he and his wife went to the pub Jordan would sneak away and rape the 11-year-old at his home before going back ‘as though nothing had happened’.

The attacks carried on for the next two years.

The judge, Mr Recorder Oliver Sells, QC, branded Jordan a ‘devious, predatory abuser’ as he sentenced him to a total of 18 years imprisonment.

The judge said: ‘On your wedding night after a ceremony at the town hall you and your new wife, who was heavily pregnant and only 16 years of age, retired for the night to the house of some friends.

‘During that night, your wedding night, you went into the room of the child and raped her forcefully.

‘She has blocked out that incident from her mind and was unable for good and powerful reasons from speaking about it and has for many, many years kept silent.’

He continued: ‘After the wedding in 1973 you and your wife had children.

‘As they grew up an 11-year-old girl came over to your house to babysit about once a month over a two-year period.

‘She already had a miserable home life, a violent father and uncaring mother. She told the jury that she loved your two children and being with them was for her a brief escape.

‘You knew all this and yet you abused your position of power.

‘When you and your wife went out to the public house you would pop back to your home and rape that young child before going back to the pub as though nothing had happened.

‘This state of affairs only ended when the child was taken into care.’

The judge added: ‘She told the jury there was no one she could tell and no one who would believe her.

‘If she had told what you did she would be beaten and treated even more badly.

Both these women’s childhoods were blighted and their lives remain affected to this day by your conduct.’He commended both the women for their courage in speaking out and ‘fighting their demons’.

‘They both endured decades of undeserved silence, shame and suffering,’ Judge Sells said.

‘You enjoyed decades of undeserved freedom, status in your family and the power of an abuser.

‘Finally they both in middle age found the courage to speak out. They gave their evidence in open court in full view with great dignity.

‘They fought their demons and gave a compelling account of what you had done to them.’

He added: ‘You were a devious, predatory abuser of children over a period of years.’

Judge Sells continued: ‘It’s clear the jury found their accounts moving.

‘I hope they [the victims] now feel the justice to which they are entitled has been done.’

The court heard Jordon was convicted of another sexual offence in 1980.

Defence barrister Tim Starkey said he suffers from a number of health conditions including epilepsy.

Jordan, from Hammersmith, denied the charges, but was convicted by a jury of three counts of rape.

He will remain on the sex offenders register for life.