In 2021, the Offender Register confirmed that after viewing a Hollyoaks storyline, one of the victims of a disgraced snooker and billiards champion only realised that he had been groomed.
John Hartley exploited his position to influence the sexual behaviour of young males.
Hartley, a resident of Eston, Middlesbrough, targeted adolescents he encountered through coaching and slept naked in bed with them during hotel stays throughout the country.
On one occasion, the paedophile performed a sexual act on the floor of a gymnasium bathroom after presenting his victim with pornography on an iPad.
The European billiards champion “freely exposed himself” to his victims and manipulated young boys at his flat using “alcohol and poppers.”
Throughout his 20-year career, he was the European champion and ranked fifth in the world.
To capture images of the males, Hartley concealed cameras in his residence, one of which was disguised as an air freshener.
One of his victims revealed that he was “in awe of Hartley” because of his prestigious titles in snooker and billiards. However, he “came to the realisation” after watching a Hollyoaks abuse storyline involving a football coach.
On Monday, the THEN 42-year-old was admitted to a series of child sex offences at Teesside Crown Court. In a black suit and white shirt, Hartley, who resides on Windsor Road, Eston, appeared in the dock to face trial.
Nevertheless, Hartley entered a guilty plea to seven child sex offences that occurred several years before the commencement of the trial.
Three male victims are unable to be identified due to legal constraints.
Hartley was previously a director of the English Association of Snooker and Billiards and represented England in the 2003 World Billiards Championship in India.
Prosecutor Shaun Dodds detailed how Hartley utilised his role as a snooker and billiards coach to develop young individuals.
The initial victim was approximately fourteen years old when they first encountered one another, and he received snooker coaching for an extended period.
Hartley would frequently lodge in hotels while transporting boys to tournaments throughout the country.
He utilised these opportunities to cultivate his victims, as the Middlesbrough court heard.
Hartley engaged in the “sexualised behaviour” on approximately 20 to 30 occasions over two years, according to Mr Dodds.
He shared a bed with the boys in his Saltburn home and hotel rooms, “sleeping naked” and “freely exposing himself.”
The prosecutor charged that Hartley would also provide the children with “poppers and alcohol” at his residence.
The initial victim recounted an incident in which he, along with two other boys, slept in Hartley’s flat before embarking on an Alton Towers excursion. He was compelled to sleep undressed in the same bed as them.
He also remembered the incident in the gym’s shower area after the duo had played tennis together in Redcar.
Mr Dodds also recounted a distinct incident that occurred in Hartley’s flat in Saltburn, where he shared a bed with the boy.
Hartley once more displayed the child sexual abuse image and was engaged in a sexual act that the victim described as “not unusual” and that he would “typically” avoid.
Nevertheless, the pervert advised him to “do it as well, and he had previously enjoyed it.
The victim stated that he was “embarrassed,” but the “incident did not last for an extended period.”
In relation to the voyeurism charge, the incident occurred at Hartley’s residence in Hartlepool, where he had captured a nude photograph of the same victim in the shower room.
The victim was unaware that Hartley was recording him, as the court heard.
Another male, who was described as being in his late teens or early twenties, was also captured on camera “urinating into the toilet” by the concealed camera, which was disguised as an “air freshener.”
Subsequently, it was disclosed that he visited Hartley’s residence on two separate occasions to observe a football match, “unaware that he was being recorded.”
Cleveland Police officers apprehended Hartley at his residence in Hartlepool, and a Sony camcorder was confiscated.
Details of a video on the device that depicted Hartley naked and a boy in his bed were presented at Teesside Crown Court.
During the interview, the defendant acknowledged that he had two concealed cameras. However, he explained that this was because he spent “lengthy periods of time” away from home and “in case somebody broke in.”
He also mentioned that “the cleaner must have relocated it to the bathroom.”
Hartley admitted that he had viewed pornography with the child, but he denied that it was for “sexual gratification.” Rather, he found it amusing.
Subsequently, he acknowledged that it was “inappropriate.”
Hartley also acknowledged that he had “poppers in the flat” and permitted “young lads to have them.”
Hartley acknowledged in court:
- compelling a child to observe a sexual act – “to observe an image of a person engaging in a sexual act” – for the purpose of obtaining sexual pleasure;
- inciting or causing a second underage male to engage in sexual activity;
- engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a minor for sexual gratification;
- voyeurism, which involves the recording of a private act by an individual for sexual gratification without their consent
The judge sentenced Hartley to four and a half years in prison, as well as imposing a lifelong sexual harm prevention order and notification requirements.
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