A BRITISH Legion standard bearer who sexually abused a vulnerable young girl has been jailed for 12 years for what a judge called “acts of gross depravity and wicked exploitation”.

Martin Gardiner, who was also on the committee at the Stratton branch of the legion, groomed the youngster when she was 14 or 15, and took advantage of her low intelligence.

The 55-year-old, who denied any wrongdoing, sent her sordid text and Facebook messages then took her out in his car and had sex with the child at Coate Water.

And Gardiner, who is married with a grown up son, even got his family away from his home in a bid to further abuse the youngster. But the girl’s dad became suspicious about what was going on with his daughter and after seeing the messages, alerted the authorities.

As he struggled to avoid the truth coming out Gardiner deleted text messages which the police managed to recover as they built a case against him.

Gardiner, of Abington Way, Stratton St Margaret, pleaded not guilty to seven counts of sexually abusing a child with a mental disorder.

Following a two-week trial at Swindon Crown Court, a jury of five men and seven women found him guilty of the charges, which took place in the summer of 2012.

Robin Shellard, defending, said although there had clearly been grooming, the offending was not protracted, taking place over just a few weeks in July and August.

He said over the years Gardiner had tried to be a good father to his son, who suffered from epileps,y and a good husband to his wife, who has Crohn’s disease.

Mr Shellard said: “He has not only good character but also positive good character. At the legion club he served on the committee for many years, acting as standard bearer.”

The court was told that a victim impact statement showed the offending was now beginning to have a serious affect on the girl.

Jailing him, Judge Tim Mousley QC, said: “You have now been convicted of seven offences of serious sexual abuse on a young girl whose mental disabilities mean she had a mental age many years below her actual age.

“I regard it as a very serious feature of this case that she was young and in reality very young and very immature and you took terrible advantage of that.

“This was pre-meditated, it was planned and it was coercive. You were prepared to lie to anyone in order to get what you wanted.”

As well as serving a 12 year sentence Gardiner must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.