Client Not Guilty of Historic Sexual Assault

Case study summary

Our client was a 70-year-old former football coach who was accused of serious historic sexual assault allegations by his former partner’s daughter. He strongly denied the allegations. We thoroughly prepared the case and instructed an expert barrister. Our client was acquitted.

Case study

Our client was a 70-year-old former football coach. In 2021, he was accused of serious historic sexual assault allegations by his former partner’s daughter. He wholly denied the allegations and he and his wife were devastated by the news. They realised that, if found guilty, he would be likely to spend the rest of his life in prison. It would also destroy the unblemished reputation our client had built within the football community, both in the United Kingdom and in the United States.

The prosecution’s case was that our client would get into the bath with the complainant when she was a young girl. The complainant stated that he would also get into the bath with her sister. We reviewed text messages between the complainant and her sister where the complainant’s sister originally confirmed that this did not happen. A few weeks later, the complainant’s sister then decided to support her and provided a statement saying that our client did get into the bath with her. This immediately raised alarm bells for us.

The complainant also stated that she had visited a holistic therapist to discuss the allegations, however, the therapist had no records of these meetings and stated that the records had been destroyed.

Our client strongly denied the allegation. He explained that, when he was dating the complainant’s mother, he had a busy schedule due to his football coaching career. He would visit the complainant’s mother's house during the weekends but he also had commitments to see his own son ever Saturday and so, he was rarely ever left alone with the complainant and her sister. During the rare occasions when our client was alone with them, he confirmed that he did not ever share a bath with them.

Our client’s wife also confirmed that he could not have committed the offences. She described how she had watched our client interact with her daughter and granddaughters over the years and confirmed that he was a respectful and courteous man. This was further supported by the fact that he had no previous convictions.

Despite his innocence, the accusation alone made our client feel ashamed severely impacted his mental health. We supported him through the months leading up to his trial and ensured that our client felt confident enough to give evidence in court.

We instructed a specialist sexual assault barrister to represent our client at the trial. She expertly cross-examined the complainant and closed the case with a speech which ensured the jury noted all of the inconsistencies and weaknesses within the prosecution’s case. The jury returned Not Guilty verdicts. Our client and his wife were extremely relieved to be able to return home and begin enjoying their retirement.