Man filmed his sex with girl
A THAI Boxing coach who secretly filmed himself having sex with a schoolgirl at his gym has been jailed.
Peter Feeley, 56, who the court heard was nicknamed ‘Mr Touchy-Feeley’, was a ‘respected’ coach based at the Spartan Muay Thai gym in Middleton.
However he developed a relationship with a youngster. The pair would refer to each other as ‘husband and wife’, sending each other gifts and sharing explicit photos.
She then went missing one night, and could not be contacted, prompting a frantic search by her parents and police. She was found the following morning and said she had run away and had been roaming the streets.
She had in fact been with Feeley who had ‘forced her to tell lies’ about where she’d been, the court heard.
She eventually told police they had sex three times in the gym, and once at his house on the night she went missing, Alexander Menary, prosecuting at Minshull Street Crown Court said.
The gym in Spring Gardens near Middleton town centre was searched and there was an area in the roof space behind a red curtain with a bed, strewn with empty cans and bottles of alcohol.
A laptop and a number of secret cameras were also found on which he had filmed his sexual encounters with the girl, without her knowledge.
In one of the films he smiles and puts a thumbs up to the camera, something the judge said showed he regarded this ‘as one big joke.’ The girl and her mum now fear what may become of the footage, and that it may have ended up on the ‘ dark web’ the court was told, though there is no evidence it has.
In a letter to Feeley read in court, his victim said: “I hope the guilt eats you alive. I have decided to forgive you, not for you, but for me. I will no longer pollute my mind with fear or be shackled by the past.”
After his arrest it was found Feeley had molested two other schoolgirls.
There was also another attack on a young teenage girl which took place at a house more than ten years ago, though the victim only recently felt able to come forward the court was told.
Feeley, of Spring Gardens, pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault, abduction, and four counts of sexual activity with a child at earlier hearings.
David Bruce, defending, said: “The main mitigation in this case are his guilty pleas, and that none of these children have been forced to give evidence at a trial. The defendant accepts his wrongdoing.” Feeley was sentenced to six years behind bars, of which he will likely serve half and the rest on licence.