Accused Hampshire Man To Face Child Abuse Charges

A 65-year-old man is due to appear in court charged with 17 offences following a child sex abuse investigation.

Michael Brooks, 65, from Lymington, Hampshire, was the eighth person to be charged by police investigating abuse in the county’s New Milton area in the 1970s and 1980s.

He was remanded in custody to appear at Southampton Magistrates’ Court.

Detectives raided 11 homes in Hampshire and one in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, on Thursday and one home in Sussex on Friday. They arrested 11 men and two women in connection with Operation Crossbow, which has involved 80 officers.

Peter Saville, 53, from Fordingbridge, Hampshire, appeared at New Forest Magistrates Court in Lyndhurst yesterday, charged with one count under the Sexual Offences Act.

He was granted bail by magistrates and the case was adjourned for a date to be fixed.

Kenneth Milton, 71, from Southampton, has been charged with two counts; Ian Whitlock, 65, from New Milton, is charged with one count; and Nico Sharque, 43, from Stevenage, Herts, faces one charge.

Terence Shave, 64, from New Milton, has been charged with two counts and Patricia Gaunt, 56, from New Milton, and Richard Wells, 53, from New Milton have been charged with one offence each.

Milton, Whitlock, Sharque, Shave, Gaunt and Wells have been bailed to attend New Forest Magistrates’ Court on Friday November 9.

A police spokesman said four other people – a woman of 62 from Lymington, a 58-year-old man from Barton on Sea, a 58-year-old man from New Milton and a 57-year-old man from Brighton – were released on police bail pending further inquiries. Another man was released without charge.