A disgraced Hampshire police inspector who ordered a string of teenage boys into humiliating strip searches in police custody has been jailed for 16 months.
A judge said Gerard Hutchings, 48, acted in breach of his powers and heaped shame on the police service by demanding 11 young victims to comply with his demands.
He ordered boys aged 16 and 17 to strip naked, bend over and subject themselves to in
timate and degrading examinations in front of him between March 2006 and July last year.
Brighton Crown Court was told that Hutchings acted under the pretence that the humiliating procedures were shock tactics designed to divert unruly youths from a life of crime.
Prosecutor Tim Thompson said his actions went far beyond what was expected when reprimanding people and had left his victims shocked and embarrassed.
Hutchings, employed by the Hampshire force in Lyndhurst in the New Forest, had an unblemished 28-year police record during which he received two commendations.
Judge Cedric Joseph told him: "What you did was a gross breach of trust, it was degrading and humiliating and frightening for some of them at least."
The offences took place at both Eastleigh and Lyndhurst police stations.
Hutchings pleaded guilty last month to 10 counts of misconduct in a public office and one count was taken into consideration when he appeared at Hove Crown Court.
He denied 10 counts of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and a sexual assault charge, which was accepted by the Crown.
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