Thomas Verdon

Thomas Verdon, an 84-year-old man previously employed in the armed services, was a convicted sexual predator who abused multiple underage girls in the 1970s and 1980s. His offences came to light decades later when his victims bravely reported the horrific abuse they had suffered at his hands.

The abuse occurred on the south coast in the town of Hythe, near Folkestone in Kent. In 2019, Kent Police received a report detailing sexual offences committed by Verdon during that period. Following a thorough investigation by the East Kent Vulnerability Investigation Team, Verdon was charged with multiple counts of indecent assault and gross indecency with a child. At the time of the charges, he was 81 years old and living in Latchford, a suburb of his birth town Warrington in Cheshire.

Verdon was convicted at Canterbury Crown Court in January 2023 on seven counts of indecent assault on a girl under 14 and four counts of gross indecency with a girl under 14. The court heard harrowing details of the abuse, with some victims being under the age of 10 when Verdon sexually assaulted them. Judge Catherine Brown sentenced him to 10 years' imprisonment, along with an additional three years on extended licence following his release.

While serving his sentence at HMP Norwich, Verdon died on 21 December 2024 at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. An inquest was opened at Norfolk Coroner's Court, where area coroner Yvonne Blake confirmed the provisional cause of death as streptococcus septicaemia due to pneumonia. Mrs Blake requested statements from Verdon's GP, the hospital, Adult Social Services, and the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman ahead of a full inquest scheduled for June 2025. Due to the nature of his interview and charging via postal requisition, Kent Police did not have a custody photo available.