December 2011 Gospel singer avoids jail over sex with girl he seduced at Sunday services A GOSPEL singer who seduced a 14-year-old girl he met through a north-east church has been spared jail after claiming the youngster was ‘partly responsible’. Nathan Gardiner, 20, befriended the girl during several Sunday services and had sex with her twice. The girl recorded the “first time with Nathan” on a calendar after the pair had sex in Gardner’s car at a beach at New Aberdour on July 13 . They met again in August at Gardner’s Lendrum Terrace home where they had sex in the living room. The teenager again recorded the event in her diary, saying that she hoped that “one day we will be together”. But rumours spread through the congregation and the church’s pastor confronted Gardner about the relationship on August 10. When the girl’s relative died shortly afterwards, her father became concerned because she seemed “fairly unphased”. Family members spoke to the girl and she indicated that she was in a relationship with Gardner, pointing him out on Queen Street. Police later found material on Gardner’s computer that suggested there had been a sexual element to the pair’s relationship. Stuart Flowerdew, defending, said that Gardner had made “no admissions of a sexual nature”. Calling for a reports, Sheriff William Summers said: “There was a significant sexual element to this relationship.” The girl eventually confessed all to her family and Gardiner was confronted by her furious father. Gardiner was placed on the sex offenders register