A Cambridge University academic at the centre of a sexual harassment case has been revealed as the author of an erotic work of fiction about students.
Dr Peter Hutchinson, 74, was found to have sexually harassed 10 female students in 2015 and excluded from teaching at Trinity College in 2017.
He was readmitted less than two years after the prestigious university removed him, but was forced out after an open letter gathered 1,300 signatures in 2019.
Now it has emerged that Dr Hutchinson published an erotic novel under the pseudonym of ‘Barry Able’ at the time of the initial complaints.
Dr Peter Hutchinson (pictured) was found to have sexually harassed 10 students in 2015 and excluded from teaching at Trinity College in 2017
The former lecturer of modern and medieval languages told Tortoise that he is the author of the Carry On-style book, called First Time: Ooo-la-la!.
His self-published book, styled as a series of ‘erotic adventures’ centred on the fictional Oxford college St Badley’s, involves female undergraduates sleeping with men each week during the semester to qualify for membership.
Its cover features an image of a single female leg, belonging to an unidentifiable Trinity Hall student, clad in a stocking.
Scenes from the novel include men spying on women with binoculars, referring to breasts as a ‘perky pair’, and calling one woman a ‘brazen hussy’.
Dr Hutchinson claimed that he was not present when the book’s cover photo was taken, saying: ‘I don’t really see a problem about using an unidentifiable photo of a Trinity Hall student, especially since she was very pleased to provide it. I recall her saying she would look forward to showing it to her grandchildren in due course!’
SAUCY scenes from a SALACIOUS work of fiction by a disgraced CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY DON
Dr Hutchinson is the author of the Carry On-style erotic novel which centres around a fictional Oxford campus, called First Time: Ooo-la-la! (cover pictured)
Dr Hutchinson is the author of the Carry On-style erotic novel which centres around a fictional Oxford campus, called First Time: Ooo-la-la!. These are just a few of the more raunchy moments in his saucy number:
- ‘”Calm down,” replied the Bursar, “just have a look at this. That girl is exceptionally well endowed. That’s what we used to call a ‘perky pair‘”.
- ‘”I can see one of them in the quad now. Brazen hussy. Look at the length of that skirt! That’s what we used to call…”‘
- ‘”Yes, yes,” said the Dean, refocusing his glasses. “Let’s just call her a brazen hussy. Good god!”‘
- ‘”You dirty pig! What do you think you are doing? Get off me!”‘
- ‘”Eh?” said Peter rubbing his head. “But I thought you…”‘
- ‘”You dirty, molesting pervert! How dare you suggest I was encouraging you in any way whatsoever!”‘
Dr Hutchinson, who retired in 2011, published an erotic novel under the pseudonym of ‘Barry Able’ at the time of the initial complaints, according to Tortoise (pictured, Trinity College)
Dr Hutchinson was acquitted of the charge of indecently assaulting a police officer in 2006 (pictured outside court), saying: ‘The last 12 months have been horrible for me, but I’ve survived because I’ve always known I was innocent’
He also claimed that his book reflected the views of women to whom he had spoken, and offered a more ‘progressive’ view of women in society.
‘In the opening scene, for example, an all-women’s society is in control, totally liberated, it is they who are “conquering” men, not the other way around,’ he said.
Concerns about these revelations follows past charges of lewd behaviour, including indecently assaulting a police officer in 2006 at Trinity College.
Dr Hutchinson was acquitted of the charge, saying at the time: ‘The last 12 months have been horrible for me, but I’ve survived because I’ve always known I was innocent and because I’ve had such tremendous support from so many quarters.
‘I am extremely disappointed that the Crown Prosecution Service decided to bring this case and I shall be making an appropriate complaint.’
Asked why the policewoman had accused him of assaulting her while making a ‘pervy, Benny Hill groaning’ noise, he replied: ‘I wish I knew.’
Dr Hutchinson was mired in controversy in 2015, after allegations of his making ‘inappropriate sexual and sexist’ comments in tutorials were made (pictured, Trinity College)
Dr Hutchinson said he had twice patted the police officer’s bottom on previous occasions, and that she had not objected. He had sent her an email explaining how ‘blondes with a certain eye colour’ made him go ‘weak at the knees’, and said she gave the impression she was flattered.
After his arrest, Dr Hutchinson told detectives that he was ‘dumbfounded’ and ’emotionally devastated’.
He claimed: ‘I just cannot understand how something which seemed so trivial was so important to her, and I cannot really see it as a sexual assault.’
He accepted he had probably tried to kiss and touch the woman, adding: ‘Maybe the gin had gone to my head. It was a stiff one. I think I must have found her irresistible. But I didn’t use force, she’s bigger than me.’
Dr Hutchinson was mired in controversy in 2015, after allegations of his making ‘inappropriate sexual and sexist’ comments in tutorials were made.
He was accused of offering a ‘big kiss’ to one undergraduate on her birthday and of asking a group of four students if they would ‘sleep their way to the top’ during a film night he hosted at his house.
While discussing the subject of a dominatrix in a book, he allegedly turned to one female student and then asked her: ‘Does that turn you on?’
Ten students brought charges of lewd behaviour against the former Trinity College vice-master, who quit teaching and publicly apologised after an internal investigation ruled against him in 2017.
Speaking of his ‘thoughtless’ and ‘insensitive’ comments, he said at the time: ‘I said from the start I was sorry for any distress I had caused.
‘I continue to deeply regret the comments I made, and the impact they had on the students concerned. At the time I did not question the comments I made as I was not made aware of the impact they were having.’
In October 2019, the college said its statement was ‘incorrect’ and that Dr Hutchinson would now be allowed back to ‘attend certain college events’.
The college said Dr Hutchinson had automatically become an emeritus fellow upon his retirement, which meant he could not be banned from campus.
However, he resigned in November 2019 after an open letter signed by more than 1,300 students and alumni protested the university’s decision.