Alexander Hawkes

Alexander Hawkes, a 52-year-old man from Shirley Road, Droitwich, appeared before Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday, December 2, via video link from HMP Fosse Way in Leicester. Hawkes, who was due to stand trial on December 15, changed his initial not guilty plea following legal discussions and admitted to a total of six serious charges related to sexual offences against a young child.

The charges included three counts of assaulting a child under 13 by penetration and three counts of making indecent photographs of a child. The assaults involved a victim as young as seven years old, described in court as horrific sex attacks. Hawkes, appearing in a brown lumberjack shirt and grey jumper, confirmed his details and entered his pleas during the hearing.

The court heard that Hawkes has a prior conviction for stalking and was subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which he had previously breached. Earlier this year, on July 8, police from West Mercia Police visited Hawkes as part of routine monitoring of sex offenders under the SHPO. Officers observed him wearing a white cricket jumper and learned that he regularly played club cricket at Cutnall Green cricket ground, involving matches with several teams and contact with individuals under 16, in direct violation of the order banning such interactions.

Prosecutor Camila Toscano stated: "Mr Hawkes has never disclosed to the cricket club that he's on the sex offenders' register." She noted that Hawkes had played a match the day before the police visit, on July 7, against a 13-year-old boy. For this breach of the SHPO and failure to comply with sex offenders' register notification requirements, Hawkes was sentenced at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court to 18 months in jail, comprising 10 months for the breach and activation of an earlier eight-month suspended sentence.

Judge James Burbidge KC, the Honorary Recorder of Worcester, informed Hawkes that a substantial custodial term was inevitable. The judge ordered a report on dangerousness and adjourned the case until January 29 for sentencing at Worcester Crown Court. This development follows Hawkes' ongoing involvement in cricket activities despite his legal restrictions, highlighting repeated non-compliance with measures designed to protect children.