FORMER EAST LONDON SWIMMING COACH JAILED FOR CHILD SEX ABUSE
A swimming coach has been jailed for sexually abusing a child.Robert Spink was a volunteer at the Becontree Swimming Club in the 1990s when he abused the boy.
Spink, 75, of Meadway in Canvey Island, Essex, was found guilty of three counts of indecent assault on a boy following a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court last month.
On Thursday (April 30) he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison by a judge who said he abused his position of trust to abuse the boy.
Prosecutor Lily Roberts-Phelps said the sexual abuse took place when the victim was under the age of 16 and Spink was in his mid-40s.
On multiple occasions Spink subjected the boy to non-consensual sexual touching and activity, the court heard.
In an impact statement, the victim said: “My childhood was changed forever, all because of this one man.
” “Before this incident, Robert Spink was a person I trusted.
He was a lot older than me so I had no reason or knowledge not to trust him.” He detailed how trauma caused by Spink’s actions had seeped into all aspects of his life.
“I will never forget what I experienced at the hands of Robert Spink,” he said.
“Robert Spink may have changed how my life went but I’m now determined to focus on the positives – my family around me and the ones I love.” Spink denied the allegations at trial and his barrister, Howard Godfrey KC, said he continued to deny the offence.
Mr Godfrey questioned why the victim had continued to spend time around Spink after the abuse took place.
But Judge Rosa Dean said: “If we’re going into why children who have been abused continue to see their abusers, we’re getting into a bag of myths and stereotypes.” Mr Godfrey went on to question whether the “sad life” the victim, as detailed in his impact statement, had been caused by these offences.
Sentencing, Judge Dean said: “I didn’t need to see a victim impact statement to know that your actions had a very profound impact on his life.
” “Of course, it would be far too simplified to blame all his sorrows at your feet, because the cause is always more complicated, but the fact is your abuse has taken a dreadful toll over the years.
” She sentenced Spink to four-and-a-half years.
He will serve half of that sentence before he being released on licence.
Previously, the mum of the victim told this paper: “He taught hundreds of children to swim over the years.
“He was in such a position of trust in the changing rooms with those young boys.”
