March 2005 Child rapist jailed for 14 years A Lincolnshire man who carried out a string of sex attacks on young girls over more than 20 years has been jailed for 14 years. Richard Bateman, 60, from Station Street in Rippingdale near Bourne, raped and abused four different girls. Lincoln Crown Court had been told how one of Bateman’s victims was just seven years old. Bateman admitted 13 charges of rape and eight charges of indecent assault committed between 1981 and last year. The crimes came to light when two of the victims came forward. Bateman asked for a further four charges of indecent assault on two other girls to be taken into consideration. He was ordered to register indefinitely as a sex offender and banned for life from working with children.