Dad says his family have suffered ‘horrific betrayal’ from Hayling Island child predator who molested his daughter

Hayling Island child predator Raymond Hawker inflicted a horrific betrayal on a family that will ‘haunt’ them for the rest of their lives.

The 78-year-old knew the family of his victim in the 1980s when the regular indecent assaults were taking place on the girl. She was aged between four and nine years old at the time.

After 30 years of suffering in silence the lady felt compelled to come forward and exorcise the ghosts of her past – leading to Hawker, of Castlemans Lane, being found to have committed the lewd acts on the child during a trial in his absence at Portsmouth Crown Court.

The child molester was deemed not fit enough to take the stand due to mental health issues. But the jury still returned unanimous verdicts on five charges of indecent assault on a female under the age of 10 years and one charge of inciting a girl under 14 years to commit an act of gross indecency.

While the female victim told The News she felt ‘relieved’ but ‘numb’ after jurors returned their verdicts, Hawker remains a free man walking the street who will almost certainly not face any jail time for his horrific actions that devastated a family.  

To add insult to injury, there were two postponements to the trial, which eventually took place two years after it was supposed to go ahead.

The victim’s dad opened up on his feelings of betrayal from a man he admitted he once ‘loved’ after learning of the indecent assaults on his daughter nearly three decades later.

The heartbroken dad of the victim revealed the deviousness of his old friend when he saw Hawker outside court. ‘He just grinned at me,’ the victim’s dad said. ‘He thought he would get away with it. He’d pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes for so long that he didn’t think anyone would believe my daughter.’

Speaking of his agony after learning of what happened all those years ago, the dad said: ‘It just killed me. To think that someone could do that to my daughter. It just ripped my guts out. It’s right up there with the worst situations you can go through.

‘I don’t know if he was a predator who was planning what he was going to do or whether what he did was just random – but he was someone I thought I could trust.

‘He’s ruined my daughter’s life for all these years. She has suffered and continues to suffer with anxiety, depression, nightmares, eating disorders and trust.

‘All this because of one man’s selfish act. By making his choice, he chose to ruin my daughter’s life and mine.

‘Hearing the horrific ordeal he put my daughter through will haunt me for the rest of my life.’

While the dad revealed he was disappointed that Hawker will not go to jail for his crimes, he said the pensioner would pay for his actions now the truth has been laid bare. ‘He will be a prisoner in his own home now everyone knows what he did,’ the victim’s dad said. ‘It will be difficult for him now. People are already starting to turn their back on him.’

Following the conclusion of the trial the dad hopes his daughter can move on with her life. ‘I’m very proud of her for what she’s done,’ he said. ‘She’s suffered with this by herself for all these years because she wanted to protect me by not telling me.

‘But now she can say she has done it. Hopefully she will inspire others to come forward who have suffered similar ordeals.’