Former Village Bobby Found Guilty of Sexually Abusing Boys

A former village police officer, Gordon Hunter, has been found guilty of sexually abusing two teenage boys while working for Hampshire police.

Hunter showed no emotion as jurors convicted him on all 14 charges he faced, which included gross indecency with a child and attempted buggery. A woman in the public gallery, believed to be a member of one of the victims' families, reacted with a simple "Yes" as the guilty verdicts were read out.

The court heard that Hunter and his wife, Gill, had attempted suicide just days prior to the verdict. The couple, married for 40 years, made the attempt at their home in Dene Way, Ashurst, on Thursday. Paramedics took them to hospital with undisclosed injuries.

Hunter was absent from court on Friday and Monday but was present on Tuesday to hear the unanimous guilty verdicts read out after the jury deliberated for six-and-a-half hours. Judge Andrew Barnett lifted a court order banning publication of the joint suicide bid following the verdict.

Hunter's son, brother-in-law, and friends were present in the public gallery to hear the verdicts. Mrs. Hunter, who had been present during the trial, was absent for the sentencing but has since been released from hospital.

Judge Barnett remanded Hunter in custody for his own safety until sentencing next month. He told Hunter, "You have been convicted by the jury of 14 extremely serious offenses against young teenage boys. Be under no illusion that the inevitable sentence is one of imprisonment and you must prepare yourself for that. Bearing in mind your safety after you and your wife were involved in a suicide attempt, I have to consider your well-being and I have to remand you in custody."

During the five-day trial, the court heard how Hunter had abused the boys in separate areas of the county between 1987 and 1998. The offenses began with a boy, who was 11 at the time and cannot be named for legal reasons, when Hunter was the village policeman in Whitchurch in the north of the county between 1983 and 1992.

The court heard that many of the offenses took place at Hunter's family home, some in his marital bed. Jurors were told that Hunter then moved to Ashurst in the New Forest in 1992 and in 1995 began to target another boy, who also cannot be named for legal reasons.

Hunter retired from Hampshire police as a police constable in 2002 but continued in a variety of support staff roles including a detention officer in Eastleigh. He retired from a support staff role at Lyndhurst at the beginning of October 2009 before being arrested later that month.

The investigation was led by officers from Hampshire Constabulary's professional standards department. Hunter, who had denied all the charges, was put on the sex offender's register.