By Tim Parsons-
A former sports coach from Portsmouth who supplied videos of naked swimming pupils to an Australian paedophile was jailed on Wednesday.
Terry Neale, 55, (pictured) from North End, was tracked down and arrested by National Crime Agency officers in January 2021, after the Australian Federal Police (AFP) recovered the videos and shared them with the Agency.
Neale left his victims feeling ‘angry’, ‘helpless’ and ‘preyed on’ as he repeatedly offended over the last decade, a court heard.
He was identified after a contact of his, Stephen Porter, was arrested in June 2020 by officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for child sexual exploitation offences.
The pair had known each other for more than 20 years and met up in Australia when Porter was coaching Australian rules football youth players.
Two carrier bags containing hard copies of printed photographs were found at his home, as well as 24 homemade discs containing further still images.
An investigation found three videos totalling over 30 minutes in length were found, which he had taken while working at former Olympic swimmer Katy Sexton’s swimming academy in the city between 2013 and 2015
AFP officers recovered two videos from Porter taken by Neale in 2013 of a young boy getting dressed after bathing at his house. Neale can be seen speaking with the child and providing towels.
Other videos shared by Neale showed pupils getting changed at swimming pools in the Portsmouth area. In one video, Neale appears to place a bag on a bench and adjusts a hidden camera. He’s then seen walking around the changing room and talking to naked boys.
In further videos of children’s swimming lessons, taken with a hidden camera in August 2013, Neale is wearing wet clothing and goggles, suggesting he has been in the water with pupils.
He was employed by a swimming school at the time and also worked as a local amateur youth football coach for various teams. NCA investigators identified all of the children in the videos, and they have since been spoken to and safeguarded.
Neale pleaded guilty to voyeurism and indecent images of children offences (possessing and making) at Winchester Crown Court on 27 September last year. One count of arranging / facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child under 13 and two counts of possessing extreme pornographic images will lie on file.
He was sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment at the same court today (6 February). He was also given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
In victim impact statements read before the court, one parent wrote: “All our lives changed the day we found out Terry Neale had chosen to dehumanise our beautiful 12-year-old son and steal his childhood innocence … He felt somehow what occurred was in some way his fault. He questions himself and his belief in his ability to judge people, trust people, read people and sadly too, judge danger.”
A further victim said: “The knowledge that I was videoed without my permission at such a young age has left me feeling as though a part of myself I never knew is missing. I often drift off thinking about what was done to me. I feel angry and helpless because I cannot do anything about the past.”
And one said: “It is the thought that after someone doing such a thing how could they possibly ever be allowed to step foot out of prison. I fail to see where it stops, if someone can be depraved enough to hide a camera in a changing room full of children, what will he do next?”
NCA Operations Manager Danielle Pownall said: “Terry Neale held a position of trust in the community but abused it by taking advantage of children on his watch.
“He did so for his own sexual gratification, and that of a fellow paedophile on the other side of the world.
“The NCA will continue to work with international partners such as the Australian Federal Police to pursue child sexual abuse offenders and protect the victims of their crimes.”