US airman sentenced for raping 3 teenaged girls

LONDON - A US airman convicted of raping three teenage British girls was sentenced Friday (Saturday in Manila) to 12 years in prison. Prosecutors said Staff Sgt. James Gardner took advantage of vulnerable girls who lived in a children's home near the US base at Menwith Hill in northern England, where he was stationed. Gardner, 34, had said the girls had consented to sex. But a jury convicted him last month of five counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and another of attempted rape. The victims were three girls aged 14, 15 and 17. Passing sentence at York Crown Court, Judge Peter Hoffman told Gardner: "You took advantage of these young girls." Hoffman said Gardner's exemplary service record made him "a credit" to the U.S. Air Force, but he added: "You have lost all that, I'm afraid, by these convictions." He also ordered that Gardner should be deported once he had served his sentence. Gardner, an information technology and logistics specialist, began his career in Little Rock, Ark. His hometown was not immediately available, and it was not immediately clear if he would appeal.