In the media

Gym Club Paedophile Jailed

A former gymnastics club boss has been jailed for child sex offences committed more than 20 years ago - thanks to the determination of Pathfinder Investigations.

Ron Smith, a former Olympic gymnastics judge and school teacher, finally faced justice after Phil Lewis of Pathfinder Investigations was asked to look into allegations against him.

Smith has been jailed for three years after being found guilty of five charges of indecent assault on a male under 14 and one of indecency with a child under 16.

In 1969 Smith had been found guilty of assualting two 12-year-old boys. Following the conviction, after an appeal to the Education Secretary, Smith had been allowed to teach and be a gym instructor at a school in Oxfordshire.

After he retired Ron Smith was a director at the Fromeside Gymnastics Club, in Winterbourne. In 2004, when the club learned of his previous conviction he was fired.

Smith, who was a judge at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 had been due to officiate at the 2004 Athens games until authorities were told about his past.

Oxford Crown Court heard that investigations began in 2000 after allegations were made about Smith's behaviour towards a young boy during the 1970s.

The allegations were not enough to make a case, said Rachel Drake, prosecuting, but in November 2004 the British Amateur Gymnastics Association hired Pathfinder Investigations to find more victims of Smith's abuse.

His investigations uncovered two victims who were willing to give evidence against Smith, and a third victim also came forward.

During the trial, the court heard about incidents between 1982 and 1986 involving three victims aged between 10 and 13.

Smith took his victims on weekend trips, during which they would camp out or stay in youth hostels, or stay at Smith's flat in Bath.

The court was told that the boys, who were given beer and shown pornography, were made to share his tent and, on one occasion, his bed.

Smith told the jury he may have slept in tents with boys, offered them a sip of beer and they might have seen one of his pornographic magazines by accident, but denied all indecent assault charges.

Mr Lewis, who runs Gloucestershire-based Pathfinder Investigations, said after the case that he felt driven to convict Smith after hearing from the victims.

He said: “From past experience in the Police force I knew that the way to get someone like Smith convicted was to try to get other victims to come forward. The hardest part of the case was getting men to confront the abuse of the past.”

“For a grown man who may have his own kids and be in a relationship, it is very difficult to come forward. I think there are a lot of abusers getting away with it because of this.”

“People need to come forward, although it is very difficult, because seeing an abuser convicted can actually help in terms of getting over that abuse.”

Mr Lewis of Pathfinder Investigations, having worked in a Police Child Protection Unit, has unique expertise to undertake sex offence investigations.