Former police inspector jailed for 10 years over strip-search sex offences

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Gerard Hutchings, 67, a former inspector with Hampshire Police, abused 18 male victims – aged between 17 and 31 at the time – at various police stations across the force area between 1999 and 2007.

Bristol Crown Court heard how Hutchings carried out the offences while alone with the victims, who had been arrested for minor offences, and sexually assaulted some of them during the procedures.

He admitted 17 counts of misconduct in public office and was then convicted of a further 11 charges relating to sexual offending following a 10-day trial in March.

These charges were five indecent assaults, five of causing a person to engage in a sexual activity without consent, and one of misconduct in public office.

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Judge William Hart told Hutchings that his abuse of the victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was “made more grave by the seniority of your rank”.

“Any decent and professional police officer, and thankfully almost all police officers fall into that category, would be sickened by your exploitation of these young men,” the judge said.

He told Hutchings: “All the offences involve abusing your power and position of authority as a police inspector to conduct, in private, completely unwarranted strip searches of male detainees and, in the case of those who gave evidence in the trial, to indecently assault them and cause them to engage in sexual activity against their will and without their consent.

“You enjoyed both the humiliation and obtained some perverted sexual gratification from what you did.

“This was a course of abusive conduct, stretching over many years and involving many victims.”

Judge Hart commended officers from Hampshire Police who had investigated Hutchings, who he said “may well have restored the faith of many victims in the police”.

People in the public gallery – including victims – clapped from the public gallery after this remark.

The judge also commended the victims for their bravery.

The defendant, of Ashurst, Southampton, was sacked in 2007 and jailed for 16 months at Lewes Crown Court the following year after admitting 10 counts of misconduct in a pubic office for similar offending.

Police launched a fresh investigation in 2020, following a new report, and used Hutchings’ police notebook along with custody records to identify 373 people he had been in contact with at police station.

All of these people were visited by officers, with 17 of them providing video statements detailing how they had been subjected to unwarranted strip searches by Hutchings.

Prosecuting, Simon Jones said: “The case concerns misconduct in public office and sexual offending by the defendant, a former police inspector, who repeatedly over an eight-year period abused his position of authority by conducting strip searches of young men who had been arrested and were in his care.”

Mr Jones told the court there was “no justification” for the victims to undergo strip searches, with some having already accepted cautions or reprimands, and there was an “imbalance of power” between them and Hutchings.

“The defendant used his position of authority and the guise of these searches to indecently assault and cause sexual activity to be engaged without the consent of the victim in this case,” he said.

On Friday, a number of men who had been abused by Hutchings read victim personal statements to describe the impact of his offending.

One told Hutchings: “You, a senior officer, acted in a calculating and predatory way which tainted my innocence.

“I was groomed to silence as a minor by an adult – you – for your own sexual perversion.”

Another man described how hearing police sirens had for years left him “wracked by surging anxiety, then deep, seething disdain”.

One man told the court he had been a “happy go lucky 21-year-old” until he was abused by Hutchings, leaving him feeling “disgusting, belittled and ashamed”.

The wife of one man, now a father-of-two, wept as she read a statement written by her husband which described how he was abused by Hutchings aged 17.

“It is heartbreaking to think that any child could be exploited by someone they should be able to trust,” she said.

Mr Jones read a statement on behalf of one man, who wrote: “A police station should be a place of safety, instead it became a place I was violated and powerless.

“If we cannot trust the police, who can we trust?”.

A statement from another victim said those abused by Hutchings had received a “life sentence at the hands of a twisted, sick man”.

Representing Hutchings, Pauline Thompson said her client suffers from ill health and was “ashamed and embarrassed” that it had taken him a long time to realise the impact of his offending on the victims.

“He cannot understand what on earth it was that caused him to behave in the way that he did and abuse the trust that had been reposed in him by those who employed him and society as a whole, as a police officer of significant rank,” she said.

Ms Thompson added that there was a “complete lack of likelihood of any reoffending now” and said Hutchings donates a “significant sum” from his police pension to charity each year.

Anthony Johns of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Gerard Hutchings carried out a sustained abuse of power, using his position as a police inspector to target young men who were entitled to expect lawful and professional treatment.

“He exploited his authority to subject victims to humiliating and unjustified strip searches before sexually offending against them.

“Working closely with Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, prosecutors built a compelling case from the accounts of 18 victims, exposing a pattern of offending that spanned almost a decade and demonstrating that compliance obtained through the misuse of authority is not consent.

“I would like to pay tribute to the victims for the courage they have shown in coming forward. Their evidence was vital in bringing Hutchings to justice.”

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Southey, of Hampshire Police, said it had been “incredibly difficult” for the victims in the case.

“Hutchings exploited the trust placed in him to commit appalling offences against these young men. His actions have had a profound and lasting impact on them. I am deeply sorry for the suffering they have endured,” he said.

“To be clear, people like Hutchings have no place in policing. When his offences first came to light in 2007 he was quickly sacked and faced a prosecution.

“A significant investigation was carried out when further offending was reported more recently. We will do all we can to root out those who think they can abuse the trust of the people we serve.

“No sentence can undo what Hutchings did, but I hope it provides some comfort to know that he is now facing the consequences of his actions.”