Former swim coach has abuse conviction quashed

A former Irish Olympic swimming coach who jailed for six years for sexually abusing young boys has had his conviction quashed.

Gerard Doyle (aged 50), of Emmet Place, Wexford, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison in January last year, having been found guilty of 34 counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault by a jury at Wexford Circuit Criminal Court.

He had denied sexually assaulting five boys aged between 10 and 15 years old on dates between January 1981 and December 1993 at New Ross swimming pool, where he was manager for more than two decades.

However the Court of Criminal Appeal today quashed the former Irish Olympic swimming coach's conviction.

The three-judge court found that the trial judge had erred in her delivery of a delay warning to the jury, which was designed to address the large time gap between the alleged offences and the decision of the complainants to come forward and report them.

The former national swimming coach has been remanded in custody with consent to bail to appear before the next sitting of Wexford District Court.