Hawick child rapist jailed for breaching sexual offences prevention order

A child rapist has been jailed for breaching a sexual offences prevention order by being in the company of a three-year-old boy.
Princes Street in Hawick is currently home to paedophile Thomas Hoare, but he says he plans to move back to England.Princes Street in Hawick is currently home to paedophile Thomas Hoare, but he says he plans to move back to England.
Princes Street in Hawick is currently home to paedophile Thomas Hoare, but he says he plans to move back to England.

Thomas Hoare also possessed a passport, travelled to the Republic of Ireland and Spain without telling his supervising officer and breached bail conditions by failing to report to a police station.

The 51-year-old was jailed for 350 days at Jedburgh Sheriff Court, but that sentence was backdated to November 11, that being when he was first remanded in custody, so he is now eligible for release.

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Hoare, formerly of Princes Street in Hawick but planning to return to England on his release, tried to deny he was on the sex offenders’ register.

He claimed that when he was sentenced to six years in prison in 2000 for raping a 10-year-old girl, a deal was struck with prosecutors that he would not be subject to the notification requirements of the 2003 Sexual Offences Act to allow him to get on with his life on his release.

However, at a proof hearing, procurator fiscal Graham Fraser produced documentary evidence stating that Hoare, going by the name of Thomas Todd at the time, was put on the sex offenders’ register for life after his rape conviction.

He said Hoare had “persuaded himself” over the past 18 years that he was not on the register and was in denial.

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Sheriff Peter Paterson told Hoare that notification requirements would be mandatory for an offence of rape and dismissed his claim.

Following the sheriff’s ruling, Hoare pleaded guilty to four breaches of his sexual offences prevention order.

On January 3, 2017, he was seen by police in the company of a woman, a friend of his then partner, and her three-year-old child despite the order stating he was to have no contact with children under 16.

Officers watched as Hoare pushed the child’s pedal cycle and then they both went into a newsagent’s shop while the mother waited outside.

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After he was arrested, it emerged that Hoare had played the car game Scalextric with the boy too.

Hoare also pleaded guilty to possessing a passport without the knowledge of his supervising officer between May and September 2017 and travelling to the Republic of Ireland and Spain without permission, as well as failing to report to Hawick police station in June 2017 although he was required to do so.

Defence lawyer Richard Souter said: “He is no longer in a relationship with the woman. He has an address in Hawick, though he is looking to move south of the border.”

Hoare was jailed for 10 years at Newcastle Crown Court in September 2000.

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He was said to have been so revolted by his sex attack on the schoolgirl that he confessed to a 13-year-old unsolved armed robbery to make sure he got a longer sentence.

Hoare raped the 10-year-old girl on New Year’s Day 2000 at a house in South Shields, South Tyneside, after overpowering her on a bed and then fleeing in his car.

He was caught six hours later when police saw him asleep in the back seat at a motorway service station and thought he was a drink-driver.

Hoare claimed he could not remember anything, but the forensic evidence against him was overwhelming.

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The court was told that Hoare was so disgusted with himself that he confessed to a £2,500 knifepoint robbery at a North Yorkshire restaurant in 1987.

Defence lawyer Beatrice Bolton told the court at the time: “He did that because he was positively revolted by what he had done to that girl.

“He sought to ensure he was locked up for as long as possible.

“That is powerful mitigation and what better way for a man to demonstrate his remorse. He is disgusted by the offence.”

Hoare was given a six-year sentence for rape and another four-year term to run consecutively for the robbery.