A former director from a youth theatre has been jailed for six years after admitting non-recent sexual offences against four teenage boys.

Peter Harding, 75, of Merrieleas Drive, Chandler’s Ford, admitted three counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual activity with a boy, at a hearing on March 11.

The court was told that some of the assaults took place at the theatre when Harding was fitting costumes for boys while others took place at Harding's house.

These assaults took place between 2006 and 2012, when he was the director at the Centrestage Productions Youth Theatre in the leafy Chandler’s Ford.

His jailing comes a decade after he avoided jail for downloading indecent images of children, claiming he had done it for research purposes.

He was given a three-year supervision order after Judge Peter Ralls QC said he wanted to ensure the public were not at risk.

The criminal investigation saw him sacked from the theatre a year earlier.

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The sexual assaults were first reported to police in 2021, leading to an investigation by Hampshire police's specialist Operation Marmion team, which investigates allegations of non-recent sexual abuse perpetrated within institutions or by people of prominence.

Harding was sentenced to six years in prison today at Southampton Crown Court.

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Speaking after the sentence hearing, Detective Constable Leanne Boyd said: “I would like to pay tribute to all the victims for the courage they have shown throughout this investigation.

“We have been able to secure these convictions thanks to the bravery they have shown in firstly coming forward, and then while we made our enquiries and the court process.

“We take all sexual offence and child sex abuse allegation extremely seriously. We would encourage people to continue to come forward and report these offences to us, so that we can take action to target perpetrators and safeguard vulnerable people.”

Hampshire Constabulary said that not everyone has the confidence to speak to police, but there are support services available that can help you if you are a victim of abuse.

A spokesperson said: "Anyone impacted by child sexual abuse can contact Childline on 0800 11 11, or if you are an adult that has been affected, you can call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000."