Olympic canoe coach who sexually abused promising pupil, 13, ending her dreams of becoming top athlete

RSS Feed

Olympic canoe coach who sexually abused promising pupil, 13, ending her dreams of becoming top athlete

June 2nd, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Peter Lawler, 71, faces jail for sex assaults 25 years ago
Made her perform sex acts on him during training runs
Touched her groin under table at meal with her parents
She left renowned canoe club to escape his clutches
Ordeal led to ‘significant physical and mental decline’
Abuse took place when Lawler was coaching for 1988 Seoul Olympics
He himself represented Great Britain at three Games
Was paralysed in horse-riding accident four years ago

By
Simon Tomlinson

PUBLISHED:

11:43 EST, 1 June 2012

|

UPDATED:

11:48 EST, 1 June 2012

Facing jail: Canoe coach Peter Lawler (pictured) sexually abused one of his pupils when she was as young as 13. He was paralysed in a horse-riding accident four years ago

A top canoe coach who represented Great Britain in three Olympics was found guilty today of sexually abusing one of his promising young pupils.

Peter Lawler, 71, faces a jail sentence for indecently assaulting the girl over a two-year period when she was just 13.

His conviction represents a shocking fall from grace for the one-time sporting star, who reached the semi-finals in 1,000-metre Kayak events at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, again in Mexico City in 1968 and just missed out in the same event at 1972 Munich Games.

It comes four years after a horse-riding accident left Lawler, from Cockermouth, Cumbria, paralysed and contemplating suicide.

The defendant was convicted of one charge of indecent assault following a four-day trial.

Judge Neil Stewart said it was a sample count which reflected a number of incidents.

Guildford Crown Court was told that Lawler abused the girl repeatedly while they were on training runs.

Prosecutor Ruby Selva said: ‘He got her to masturbate him on several occasions.’

Jurors heard that the defendant furtively touched the victim’s groin with his foot under the dinner table when he was having a meal with her and her parents.

Judge Stewart remanded the wheelchair-bound defendant on bail until July 6 for a medical report before sentencing him.

He added: ‘I would also like a report from the Governor of HMP Highdown as to what the facilities are like in prison for people suffering from Mr Lawler’s condition.’

The ex-Olympic star was also made to sign the sex offenders’ register.

A victim impact statement from the victim, now 37, will be handed to the judge in time for the sentencing hearing.

The jury acquitted Lawler of two counts of rape, one of indecency with a child and two others of indecent assault.

Lawler
had denied all the charges, saying that a bladder operation had left
him impotent and medically incapable of having sex two years before the
offences were said to have started.

Sick: Guildford Crown Court (file picture) heard how Lawler made his victim perform sex acts on him during training runs

But Ms Selva said he had not mentioned this to the police when he was being questioned or raised the matter with his doctors.

The court was told that Lawler began forcing his attentions on the victim when she was just 13 after gaining her trust and that of her parents.

Eventually the girl, who had won medals in junior championships in the UK, gave up her interest in the sport she loved to escape the defendant’s clutches.

She blamed the abuse for sending her into a downward spiral of drinks, drug and self-harming.

‘I was good. If I hadn’t quit canoeing, I could have gone to the Olympics,’ she said.

The victim, who was friends with girls who went on to achieve Olympic status, said the defendant had ruined her life.

‘He abused my trust and my parents’ trust. I hate him,’ she said.

The victim said she had been too afraid to reject Lawler’s advances.

‘I thought he wouldn’t like me and would stop training me,’ she said.

In 2008, while on holiday in Canada, Lawler came off a horse suffering spinal and rib fractures which left him paraplegic – reliant on the care of others for his day to day and most intimate needs.

‘To go from being extremely fit to this has been very hard,’ he said,

‘I was good. If I hadn’t quit canoeing, I could have gone to the Olympics. He abused my trust and my parents’ trust. I hate him’

Lawler’s victim

He added that he had thought of killing himself – and had to take what he described as ‘anti-nutty pills’ to control his mood swings.

It was when he was in the depths of despair that he was confronted in 2010 by police investigating the girl’s complaints about his conduct when he was in his late 40s.

Divorced father-of-two Lawler coached at the internationally renowned Elmbridge Canoe Club, in Weybridge, Surrey, that he helped set up with his brother and sister-in-law.

It was then that he started making advances to the youngster.

Ms Selva said the abuse began when Lawler was coaching, among others, canoeists for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

After the abuse had gone on for two years, the victim said that she left the canoe club.

She said she had bottled up her experiences after receiving an unsympathetic response from a friend she had confided in.

‘I started smoking, drinking and taking drugs. I also began self-harming. I would cut myself and burn myself with cigarettes,’ she said.

She added: ‘I’ve had nightmares and suffer depression.’

The girl insisted: ‘If I had continued canoeing, I could have achieved sporting success. I would say that I had had the potential to go to the Olympics.’

Ms Selva said the victim’s ordeal had taken a heavy toll leading to ‘significant physical and mental decline’.

Previously, Lawler said that his former town home in Weybridge, had been ‘open house’ to young people, including the victim, who had frequently stayed there.