FOUR pensioners have been found guilty of "horrifying" sexual abuse of young boys in public toilets at a park during the 1970s and 1980s.

Robert Black, Geoffrey Hillier, Alan Edmenson and Peter Watts, who used the loos in Burn Valley Gardens, Hartlepool, as a regular meeting point, were warned by judge Howard Crowson they face jail terms for 16 sexual offences against children when they return for sentencing on March 17.

The allegations against the men emerged following publicity surrounding the case of Hartlepool undertaker Gerald Martin, who was jailed for 20 years in November for targeting vulnerable children in the late 1970s, 1980s and mid 1990s.

During a two-week trial over the Burn Valley Gardens case, Teesside Crown Court heard how one alleged victim named two of the suspects, and put officers in touch with another alleged victim.

The second complainant then identified five men, one of whom, Joseph Brown, 81, of Front Street, Hart, was found not guilty of a single charge of indecent assault.

The victims were between 12 and 16 years old when they were abused.

One alleged victim described to the jury how a hole in the wall at the toilets was used to view people urinating or playing with themselves.

The court was told when Black was arrested in 2015, he was wearing women’s knickers and had a collection of female underwear and child pornography.

He had also written erotic stories about the abuse of boys by their fathers – which he told police was “just wishful thinking”. 

The court heard Mr Hillier met one of his victims by chance, inviting him home for a drink, where he was shown homosexual pornography before being abused.

Police found indecent images of children in Mr Hillier’s house, including images purporting to show boys raped by their fathers.

Officers also found a taped conversation with a Canadian man, in which Mr Hillier is said to have boasted of having sex with a boy.

The court was told Mr Edmenson was another regular at Burn Valley toilets close to Hartlepool town centre.

Mr Watts was said to have sexually abused two boys in the toilets, one of whom told police he enjoyed what had been done to him.

Edmenson, 66, of Ibrox Grove, Hartlepool, was found guilty of a single charge of indecent assault, while Hillier, 72, of Haswell Avenue, Hartlepool, was convicted two charges of indecent assault, and two serious sexual offences.

Watts, 72, of Oxford Road, Hartlepool, was found guilty of five charges of indecent assault, while Black, 71, of Borough Road, Middlesbrough, was convicted of four charges of indecent assault, and one serious sexual offence.

After the convictions, an NSPCC spokesman said: “It is horrifying that these men were able to subject their numerous young victims to abuse over a period of years in a public place close to a town centre.

“It is vitally important that victims feel able to come forward and report what happened to them, no matter how long ago the offences took place and it is heartening that these abusers have been brought to justice after publicity around another non-recent cases of abuse."