AN ILLITERATE Bude farm worker has been found guilty of raping two women and sexually assaulting two others.
Jeremy Hawke, known as Jerry, 48, stood trial last week accused of 14 counts of rape and sexual abuse over a 16-year period from 1995.
Hawke, of Hersham, Bude, was found guilty on all counts by a jury of seven women and five men on Monday.
The sex attacker denied the accusations, which came to light in 2011 after three women made complaints to the police.
Hawke, who threatened at least two of his victims with violence and said that he would hurt their children if they told anyone about what was happening, claimed they were all lying.
After his conviction, Judge Peter Johnson told Hawke that reports would be compiled ahead of sentencing.
He said: "That will not only be looking at the length of the sentence but also the question of dangerousness in terms of whether there is a significant risk of you causing harm to members of the public."
During the trial, Mary McCarthy, for the prosecution, described Hawke as a forceful character who imposed himself on women time and time again.
She said: "He was a dominating person. Jerry thinks he can have any woman that he wants. He has clearly taken advantage of opportunities when he has been on his own with women to commit these offences.
"According to the defendant it is an entirely fictitious person that these four women have described."
Ms McCarthy told the jury that, in 1992, Hawke spent three weeks in custody in relation to an offence concerning the death of a child. He was subsequently found not guilty.
She said this explained why at least one of the victims took his threats against her children so seriously.
"She knew he had been in prison for a while," said Ms McCarthy. "He was found not guilty by a jury [but it made the victim] think it was a serious threat that he would hurt her children."
Rupert Taylor, for the defence, told the jury that Hawke couldn't read or write, and said: "What can an innocent person say other than 'I didn't do it'?"
He was found guilty of three counts of rape of the first victim and one of attempting to rape her on dates between June 1 and September 9, 1995.
Hawke was convicted of sexually assaulting a second victim on August 17, 2007.
He stands to be sentenced for a further three charges of raping a third victim on dates between July 1 and October 31, 2009, and of four counts of sexually assaulting a fourth between May 1, 2010 and July 31, 2011.
Hawke, whose application for bail as an act of "mercy" was refused, was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced next month.
