EX-COUNCILLOR LEE HAWTHORNE SENTENCED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT AND VOYEURISM
A former city councillor has received a two-year suspended sentence after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a female colleague.Lee Hawthorne, aged 44, was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court after being convicted of assaulting a woman on at least four occasions spanning from December 31, 2018, to June 1, 2019.
Hawthorne, who resides in Filbert Close, Gloucester, had previously denied the charges.He had served as a Conservative councillor for Gloucester for four years until April 2020.
The court also ordered him to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work, and he will remain on the sex offenders' register for ten years.
Additionally, he has been instructed to pay his victim £1,000 in compensation and participate in 30 rehabilitation sessions with the probation service.The sentencing judge, HHJ Townsend, highlighted that Hawthorne had been convicted in May of intentionally touching his victim without consent on four occasions and had sent her a picture of himself in his underwear.
The judge remarked that the relationship between Hawthorne and the victim was initially "good," but tensions arose when the victim made it clear she did not want him to touch her.
Despite this, Hawthorne resumed his inappropriate conduct, which the judge characterized as an abuse of his sense of entitlement, evidenced by his blaming the victim for encouraging his behaviour and committing voyeurism.Hawthorne had a criminal history, including a 2021 conviction for 'upskirting'—a voyeurism offence—when he secretly recorded beneath a woman’s clothing in an office, as well as committing a similar offence against another woman in a store.
The judge emphasized that Hawthorne believed the encounters might have been consensual, but his persistence caused significant distress to the victim, making her work environment very difficult.
The victim expressed how she used to dread her office visits and felt isolated during the ordeal, further describing how her life was impacted physically and mentally.
She recounted her fears of colleagues discovering her experience and how her friends supported her in revealing the truth.HHJ Townsend acknowledged the serious psychological and physical harm caused to the victim, including migraines, heart palpitations, and anxiety.
The court decided on a suspended sentence, considering Hawthorne’s attempts at rehabilitation and a low risk of reoffending.
The judge praised the victim’s courage throughout the process, emphasizing the severity and impact of the offences committed by Hawthorne.
