Former sports coach jailed for sex offences against young boys

Police say that three of the victims were pupils at Windlesham House School in Washington when Michael James Green, 74, from Adrington Close, Hove, taught there as a cricket coach.

Green was convicted at Lewes Crown Court last week of 17 indecent assaults against boys then aged between 12 and 16. He had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Police say nine offences were committed against four of the boys, three of whom were separately assaulted at Green’s then address in Hove during the early 1980s. He was convicted of four offences against each of two of those boys, three offences against another one, and one offence against the fourth boy.

Police say the other three boys were separately assaulted while pupils at Windlesham House School. Green was convicted of four offences against one of them, three of which were committed during school trips to the cinema in Brighton and one at the school, and two offences against each of the other two boys, one of which was committed at Green’s then address, the other three being committed at the school.

The court also heard that Green had been sentenced to nine years imprisonment at Hove Crown Court in February 2014 for four counts of sexual offences against four young boys.

Those 2014 convictions had resulted from an investigation by Brighton detectives into information received in 2011 that a young boy had been sexually assaulted by Green in the early 1980s.

Three further victims came forward during that first investigation.

Detective Constable Dawn Robertson, who was involved with both investigations, said: “Green’s 2014 sentence received considerable publicity and as a result these seven further victims came forward to us over the ensuing months.

“We have great admiration for their readiness to help see justice done, and for giving evidence at Green’s trial where he denied the allegations throughout and continues to do so even after conviction, as he did in 2014.”

She added: “Reports of this type will always be taken seriously and investigated wherever possible. Anyone who wishes to report such offences can contact the police at any time online or by calling 101, and can arrange to talk in confidence to experienced investigators.”

Police emphasise that offences relate to a period starting nearly a quarter of a century ago, and that there are no current safeguarding issues in relation the sports activities involved, or to the school who co-operated fully throughout the investigation.