Soccer coach who sexually abused teen player jailed for four years

Victim, who was aged 16 at the time, tells court the coach got to her at an impressionable age and that at the time she believed the abuse was love

Richard Farrell, aged 61, of Lough Conn Avenue, Ballyfermot, Dublin, at the Criminal Courts of Justice on Parkgate Street in Dublin. Picture: IrishPhotoDesk

A soccer coach who engaged in inappropriate and illegal sexual activity with a teenage female player has been given a six-year sentence with the final two years suspended.

Richard Farrell, aged 61, was convicted by a jury following a trial earlier this year of four counts of defilement, which occurred on dates between August 2008 and January 2009 when the young woman was 16. He was aged 45 at the time and a soccer coach for her team.