PETER HAMILTON HARVEY'S SHOCKING CRIMES IN BOURNEMOUTH: PAEDOPHILE AND SEX OFFENDER'S REIGN OF TERROR

In August 2015, Peter Hamilton-Harvey, a man with a deeply troubling history and residing in Bournemouth, faced the court once again to answer for a series of serious historic sex abuse charges. The Bournemouth Crown Court heard that Hamilton-Harvey, aged 55 at the time, was accused of committing nine separate offences spanning from 1983 to 1987. These allegations include five counts of indecent assault and three charges of indecency with a child, all involving a young boy under the age of 10. Additionally, he is accused of a particularly grave sexual offence against the same boy during the same period. During the brief ten-minute hearing, Hamilton-Harvey, dressed casually in a black T-shirt and jeans, chose to enter not guilty pleas to all charges. Supporters were present in the public gallery to witness the proceedings. The court scheduled a trial to commence on August 17 at Bournemouth Crown Court, where the full details of these allegations will be examined and prosecuted.

Hamilton-Harvey’s criminal history is extensive and disturbing. As early as October 2003, he was involved in a shocking incident where his £3 million Victorian mansion in Bournemouth was deliberately set on fire. The blaze destroyed the 36-room property, a historic building that had been his family home. Remarkably, Hamilton-Harvey, who had previously served a 12-month jail sentence for indecently assaulting two nine-year-old boys in 1993, managed to escape unharmed from the flames that engulfed his residence. The fire was so intense that it completely gutted the 100-year-old house, yet he staggered out of the burning building unscathed, raising questions about his resilience and the pattern of his criminal activities.

His criminal record also includes a conviction from March 1998, when he was jailed for a year for assaulting two young boys. This conviction was part of a broader pattern of predatory behavior that spanned several years. Despite his past, Hamilton-Harvey continued to involve himself in activities that appeared to exploit vulnerable children. In 1998, he set up a bogus health trust, claiming to offer guidance and support to sexually abused children. This organization, which he called the Bournemouth Community Care Trust, was a front for his continued inappropriate activities. He even installed a helpline at his family home, which he claimed was used to counsel children aged between 11 and 16, many of whom had reportedly suffered abuse from family members. Hamilton-Harvey also offered the use of his dilapidated seaside mansion’s 36 rooms as lodgings for vulnerable and homeless youths, raising serious concerns about the safety and exploitation of these children.

His activities drew sharp criticism from child protection experts. Michael Elliott, director of Kidscape, publicly warned that Hamilton-Harvey posed a significant ongoing threat to children. He described him as fitting the classic profile of a paedophile and criticized the legal protections in place, which he argued did not adequately shield children from individuals like Hamilton-Harvey. The man, who also claimed to be a youth and community project worker, had previously been jailed for his crimes but continued to access vulnerable children through his trust and connections with local Christian groups in Bournemouth. Despite his criminal record, Hamilton-Harvey maintained that his organization was legitimate, claiming that the calls he received on his helpline and the children he counseled justified his activities. He admitted that he was aware his organization was not officially registered as a trust but argued that he raised small sums of money that he managed responsibly.

In a further twist, Hamilton-Harvey claimed that his previous conviction was based on a mistaken guilty plea and that he was still in the process of appealing the case. However, legal records show that his appeal had already been rejected. After his initial conviction, he exploited a legal loophole to circulate 500 letters naming his victims, forcing some of them to change schools to escape the fallout. His attendance at conferences organized by groups such as the Association for Sexual Abuse Prevention, where topics like “How do paedophiles maintain their cover?” were discussed, further exemplifies his continued interest in the subject. In correspondence with conference organizers, he expressed dissatisfaction with the level of detail provided about paedophile behavior, indicating a disturbing fascination with the subject. Experts like Michael Elliott warn that individuals like Hamilton-Harvey are devious and thrive on sharing and hearing about each other's exploits, making them an even greater danger to children. Notably, Hamilton-Harvey is not currently listed on any police register, as his offences predate recent law changes designed to monitor convicted sex offenders returning to the community, leaving many to question the adequacy of current safeguards against such predators.