Geoffrey Hamilton jailed for sexual assault

Geoffrey Hamilton, 64, a former manager of the Salvation Army shop in Heywood, has been found guilty of sexual assault. He was acquitted on two separate counts of raping another woman after the jury failed to reach a decision.

Hamilton, of Holden Place, Haslingden, was sentenced to eight months in jail at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Monday 31 March.

In May 2011, Hamilton arranged to visit the house of a woman to deliver books for her to sell on eBay. While the two were chatting on the sofa, he said he found her to be a ‘lovely woman’.

At first, the woman thought he was joking but Hamilton lunged at her which resulted in her being knocked back onto the sofa. Hamilton then pinned the woman down.

As she was pinned down, Hamilton asked her for a ‘little kissy kissy.’ She proceeded to fight him off and he left. Before leaving the woman’s home, he told her that he was in a loveless marriage and ‘no one need know’ what he had done.

Hamilton later went on to persuade the woman to drop her complaint and claimed that it would destroy his family. He also sent numerous text messages to the woman begging for her forgiveness.

In May 2012, Hamilton was suspended from employment as the Corps Charity Shop manager. In June 2013, he was found guilty of serious sexual assault and was to be placed on the sex offenders register.

Hamilton was then scheduled to appear at a Salvation Army disciplinary hearing but he resigned before the hearing. In 2014, the Salvation Army’s Safeguarding Unit referred Hamilton to ‘Disclosure and Barring Service’.

A spokesperson for the Salvation Army said: “The conclusion of this case emphasises there was a gross breach of the trust we placed in our former employee.

"We have worked closely with Greater Manchester Police during this investigation and as soon as we were made aware of the charges against Mr Hamilton we immediately suspended his employment (in May 2012) and suspended his membership of our organisation.

"We would also like to stress that when recruiting Mr Hamilton, all necessary checks were undertaken. We have strict ‘Safe and Sound’ guidelines in place to protect people, and we are deeply concerned and shocked that this situation happened.

"Since Mr Hamilton’s suspension in May 2012, and in view of the serious nature of this incident, our Safeguarding Unit conducted an internal investigation to review our management structures in the Corps Charity Shop, which resulted in reviewing and tightening our training and supervision processes for volunteers and employees.

"Our prayers and heartfelt sympathies are with the victim.

"We would like to reassure the public that any concerns will be investigated rigorously and we will work with the full force of the law to protect people.”