Paul Hickson

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Paul Anthony Hickson (10 May 1947 – 27 December 2008) was a serial rapist and a British former swimming coach, originally from Leicestershire. He coached the British Olympic swimming team at two Olympics in the 1980s, but behind his sporting prowess, he had been a determined and devious serial rapist of teenage female swimmers, who had misplaced their trust in him.[tone]

Early life[edit]

He grew up on Norwich Road in Leicester, the son of Arthur Walter Hickson (29 August 1914 - 2000) and Iris Mary Wilby (19 October 1920 - 9 February 2009), who had married in 1940.[1][2] His grandparents were John Henry (26 April 1888 - 1978) and Elizabeth Hickson (20 June 1886 - 1949).

At grammar school (since 1976 the comprehensive City of Leicester College) he swam for Abbey house; other houses were Bradgate, Charnwood and De Montfort. The school had its swimming gala at Spence Street Baths (Spence Street Sports Centre since 1982),[3] where the Leicester Schools' Swimming Association had its gala.[4] He gained two A-levels.[5] He swam for Knighton Fields swimming club in the 1960s,[6] and also took part in diving competitions.[7] He later swam with Leicester Swimming Club at Vestry Street Baths (closed around 1973, demolished, now Curve theatre).

He trained as a physical education teacher at Borough Road College, a teacher training college, in Isleworth (Osterley), around 1967.[8] This college became West London Institute of Higher Education in 1976 when it merged with Maria Grey Training College, and part of Brunel University London in 1997.

Career[edit]

Norwich[edit]

He taught for a few years at a Norwich comprehensive school, becoming the head of football for Norwich schools. He set up his own swimming club, as he did not think that the local swimming clubs had the sufficient standard that he was looking for.[9] At Norfolk he coached David Stacey. He worked with the England youth swimming team from 1978. He became head of the England youth swimming team in April 1981, aged 33. He would take over at the City of Coventry swimming club in mid-September 1981.[10][11]

Coventry[edit]

He moved from a Norwich swimming club to a West Midlands swimming club in September 1981. At Coventry was Annabelle Cripps (her father was a swimmer, and she attended the King Henry VIII School, Coventry), Bettina Doyle, Paul Howe, Gareth Sykes and David Stacey.[12] His Coventry team came second in national competitions against teams such as Barnet Copthall of north London, Nova Centurion of Nottingham, Wigan Wasps and Beckenham.[13] [14][15] He was selected as a coach for the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane.[16]

He went as a coach to the 1982 World Aquatics Championships in Guayaquil in Ecuador at the end of July 1982, where he complained about the team's accommodation; the hotel had been booked, as defined within a set financial budget, and no-one from the ASA or the GBSF had visited the chosen hotel. The city was crime-ridden, and the British Embassy warned the team, that food in the hotel was not safe, with all the swimmers subsequently acquiring diarrhea. The Americans and Canadians had, conversely, stayed in a five-star hotel. Although there was a direct British Caledonian flight, each Thursday, from Gatwick Airport, to the city, via San Juan, Puerto Rico, the team took 27 hours to reach the city via flights to Amsterdam, Zurich and Lisbon, then to Caracas, and the last leg was via the island of Curaçao in the Lesser Antilles.[17]

In mid-January 1983, he was given three months notice by the swimming club's chairman Graham Sykes, after unpaid bills were discovered in November 1982, and the club's finances were heading southwards. [18] He left Coventry on Tuesday 12 April 1983, and would join Swansea on 1 June 1983.[19][20]

University College Swansea[edit]

In 1983, he moved to University College Swansea, where he trained Duncan Rolley (brother of Andy Rolley) and Helen Walsh.

On Wednesday 22 January 1986, he was appointed to be the England team coach, which was not paid, with only expenses.[21] He was the head coach for the 1986 World Aquatics Championships in August 1986 in Spain, and the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.[22] He had a dispute about the opening hours of the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh, which did not open until 8am. With the Australian team manager, he complained to the City of Edinburgh District Council.[23]

He coached the British swimming team at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He developed the early career of Kathy Read,[24] and Karen Mellor (swimmer).[25]

He took the British team to the U.S. Open (swimming) from December 5-7 1986 in Florida.[26]

He was the head swimming coach for the 1988 Summer Olympics, and team manager for the July 1987 World Student Games in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, featuring Elaine Gilfillan of the Dunfermline College of Physical Education and Neil Cochran of the University of Aberdeen, and Arizona State University.[27][28] The team won three medals at the 1988 Summer Olympics; British Olympic head swimming coaches were appointed by the Amateur Swimming Federation of Great Britain.[29]

He was chosen to be the team manager for the 1989 Summer Universiade, which was to be in Brazil, but was held in West Germany, without any swimming.[30] Only athletics, fencing, mens' basketball and rowing at the 1989 Games.[31] On Thursday 16 November 1989, he wrote to The Times, discussing the Commonwealth Games Council for Wales, giving an address in Uplands, Swansea.

In June 1991, he picked a team of 30 swimmers for the July 1991 World Student Games, with 19 males and 11 females; 11 of these were studying at American universities, with Richard Leishman of the University of South Carolina and Sean McQuaid of Loughborough University, both from Scotland.[32]

Somerset[edit]

Whilst studying for an M.Sc. course at University College Swansea, he became the swimming coach at an independent school in Somerset in September 1991.[33]

He was the England team coach for the July 1992 European Schools Swimming Championships in Caen in northern France.[34]

Sexual assaults[edit]

Norwich[edit]

He had carried out sexual assaults and rape on teenage girls from, at least, 30 September 1976, when in Norwich.

Swansea[edit]

In 1986, the ASA had been told by a male swimmer, that Hickson had given female swimmers unwelcome attention. But as the women were over the age of 16, the ASA saw nothing that obviously illegal.[35]

When assistant director of physical education at University College Swansea, in 1987, he had made a female student strip naked in a fitness test. The female student had complained to the university, but he received only a written warning from the director of physical education, Stan Addicott. Female students were advised not to be alone with him in fitness tests. It transpired that six other female students had been stripped naked by him, during such fitness tests. The university did not alert the British Olympic Association or the Amateur Swimming Federation (headquartered in Loughborough) about his conduct. The university had viewed the incident as a 'one off', as no other incidents had been reported. When applying for his next position as a swimming coach, the university had also given him an excellent reference.[36]

Somerset[edit]

Detective Sergeant Roger Went, a policeman, heard a female talk about him on 21 July 1992; he was a former teacher, from Kenfig Hill, who joined the police in 1980, aged 28.[37] 16 year old Emma-Jane Needle, of Porthcawl, mentioned that Hickson had tried to molest her, when overhead by Roger Went.[38]

On Saturday 12 September 1992 he was suspended from his position as coach at the Millfield independent school, after allegations of serious sexual assaults, against teenage girls, between 1984 and 1991, when working as a coach at University College Swansea, which South Wales Police investigated. Detective Inspector Bryan Jenkins of South Wales Police led the investigation.

He was given eight charges of indecent assault, and one charge of rape, at Cockett police station on Tuesday 3 November 1992, and appeared at a Swansea court on Tuesday 8 December 1992.[39][40]

France[edit]

In September 1993, he absconded from appearing at Swansea Court, in relation to indecent assaults on eight teenage girls.[41]

Arrest[edit]

Fifteen minutes into Crimewatch on Thursday 17 February 1994 at 9.30pm, he was featured as the first of four people in the Photocall segment, described by Superintendent David Hatcher as being 5 ft 9in; the programme itself was fronted by Sue Cook.[42] Four previous swimmers (from Norwich in 1976-81) had also contacted through Crimewatch, with two reporting rape (from 1976–77).[43][44] Had he not absconded, and his picture appeared on Crimewatch, the rapes would probably have not been reported?

On Friday 23 December 1994 he was followed by police from arriving in Kent, and found at Center Parcs holiday village, Sherwood Forest, next to the A614 in Rufford, Nottinghamshire, having returned from Roubaix in northern France, and re-arrested.

Hickson had travelled the whole world, with the British team, and Swansea police had well-founded beliefs that he could end up in a place like Australia or the USA, requiring extradition, provided that he had been discovered. His solicitor was David Hutchinson. His wife offered £25,000 for bail, but any bail was refused.[45] On Tuesday 31 January 1995, at a Swansea court, he was given another charge of rape. He was held in HM Prison Swansea.

Court[edit]

He eventually appeared at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday 5 September 1995, where he was accused of carrying out systematic indecent assault and rape over fifteen years. He was prosecuted by Sir Wyn Williams.[46] He was defended by Sir Anthony Evans. Nine females gave evidence, against him, in court. In court, to plausibly explain the naked examination of female undergraduate swimmers, he said that a female had voluntarily dropped her shorts and underclothes, adding that he was 'very embarrassed and nonplussed by the entire situation. I left the room, telling her to get dressed, and that I would come back in a moment'.[47]

John Prosser gave him 12 years for two rapes, and five years for the indecent assaults.

Conviction[edit]

On Wednesday 27 September 1995, he was convicted of fifteen of the seventeen charges, including two of rape, by a jury of eight men and four women. He was cleared of two charges of indecent assault against a former Commonwealth Games swimmer and a twenty-year-old Swansea University student.[48][49] Hickson was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment following the three-week trial. Following his conviction, the chief executive of the Amateur Swimming Federation of Great Britain expressed that the body were "extremely concerned" that one of their coaches could be guilty of such offences and assured parents that vetting and supervision procedures would be reviewed and tightened.[50] At conviction, David Sparkes was the chief executive of the Amateur Swimming Association of Great Britain, later the head of British Swimming. A mother of a female swimmer said 'Hickson, at the time, had an almost god-like image in the sport. He also had the gift of the gab, and was very manipulative'.[51]

On 28 September 1995 a large picture of him appeared on the front page of The Times; the editorial, inside the newspaper, mentioned the National Coaching Foundation and the National Association of Sports Coaches, and that, unlike school teachers, children's sports coaches did not require a criminal record check (and would be neither later covered by the Sexual Offences Act 2003). If the events of Paul Hickson were shocking, the editorial went further, mentioning the unsavoury practice of East Germany to, allegedly, make sportswomen pregnant, and then terminate the pregnancy, to boost their red blood cell count, and their hormones.

The sentence was reduced from 17 to 15 yrs in February 1997, on an appeal, by Joyanne Bracewell.[52]

On Wednesday 18 March 1998 at 10.10pm on BBC1, the fifty-minute Dreams of Gold was shown as part of Crimewatch File, narrated by Jill Dando.[53] The case was featured on File on 4[54] on Tuesday 10 July 2012 on BBC Radio 4. The reconstruction plays the song You're Not Alone, in an airport check-in scene, but that song was not released until 1997.

It was featured on Tuesday 24 May 2016 on Radio 5 Live, including the Spanish gymnast Gloria Viseras, who appeared at the 1980 Summer Olympics.[55]

In October 2002, he attempted to acquire early parole, but it was rejected by Sir Roderick Evans, who noted that the parole board did not accept he had sufficiently changed his lifestyle to prevent him reoffending. Evans further expressed that Hickson had to demonstrate that the likelihood of him reoffending again was reduced, suggesting that this could not be demonstrated solely by the passage of time.[56]

Personal life[edit]

He suffered from asthma.[57]

He had married when 21, and had a daughter. He lived on Luddon Lane in Baltonsborough in the early 1990s.[58]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Leicester Mercury Thursday 9 August 1984, page 8
  2. ^ Leicester Mercury Wednesday 15 March 1978, page 17
  3. ^ Spence Street Sports Centre
  4. ^ Leicester Evening Mail Friday 7 July 1961, page 12
  5. ^ Leicester Mercury Thursday 28 September 1995, page 3
  6. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Saturday 6 February 1965, page 11
  7. ^ Leicester Mercury Saturday 18 December 1965, page 17
  8. ^ Leicester Mercury Thursday 30 March 1967, page 24
  9. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Wednesday 21 October 1981, page 22
  10. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Thursday 9 April 1981, page 36
  11. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Wednesday 30 September 1981, page 26
  12. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Saturday 17 October 1981, page 18
  13. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Friday 22 January 1982, page 28
  14. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Friday 29 January 1982, page 29
  15. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Friday 5 February 1982, page 33
  16. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Friday 11 June 1982, page 29
  17. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Thursday 26 August 1982, page 2
  18. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Friday 14 January 1983, page 32
  19. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Friday 15 April 1983 page 35
  20. ^ South Wales Echo Saturday 28 May 1983, page 38
  21. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Thursday 23 January 1986
  22. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Thursday 29 May 1986
  23. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Monday 21 July 1986, page 24
  24. ^ Times Thursday May 31 1984, page 28
  25. ^ Times Friday January 30 1987, page 39
  26. ^ Times Thursday November 20 1986, page 39
  27. ^ Aberdeen Evening Express Saturday 25 February 1984, page 10
  28. ^ Dundee Courier Friday 5 June 1987, page 19
  29. ^ Huddersfield Daily Examiner Thursday 17 November 1988, page 24
  30. ^ Times Wednesday November 23 1988
  31. ^ Times Tuesday October 24 1989
  32. ^ Dundee Courier Tuesday 11 June 1991
  33. ^ Central Somerset Gazette Thursday 31 January 1991, page 54
  34. ^ Loughborough Echo Friday 1 May 1992, page 79
  35. ^ Times Thursday, September 28 1995, page 5
  36. ^ Daily Mirror Thursday 28 September 1995, page 6
  37. ^ Port Talbot Guardian Thursday 17 April 1980
  38. ^ Western Daily Press Saturday 30 September 1995, page 2
  39. ^ South Wales Daily Post Wednesday 4 November 1992, page 3
  40. ^ Birmingham Daily Post Wednesday 9 December 1992, page 6
  41. ^ Daily Mirror Tuesday 21 December 1993, page 6
  42. ^ Crimewatch BBC1 17 February 1994
  43. ^ Huddersfield Daily Examiner Wednesday 28 December 1994, page 4
  44. ^ Daily Mirror Thursday 28 September 1995, page 7
  45. ^ Western Daily Press Wednesday 4 January 1995, page 14
  46. ^ Daily Mirror Thursday 7 September 1995, page 19
  47. ^ Western Daily Press Thursday 21 September 1995, page 21
  48. ^ "Rapist swim coach jailed for 17 years". Liverpool Echo. 27 September 1995. p. 4.
  49. ^ "Pervert swim coach is jailed". Birmingham Evening Mail. 28 September 1995. p. 22.
  50. ^ "Sex-fiend swimming coach starts 17-year jail sentence". The Birmingham Post. 28 September 1995. p. 6.
  51. ^ Western Daily Press Thursday 28 September 1995, page 2
  52. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Saturday 15 February 1997, page 9
  53. ^ Crimewatch File March 1998
  54. ^ BBC Radio 4 July 2012
  55. ^ Radio 5 Live May 2016
  56. ^ "Poolside pervert to stay behind bars". Daily Mirror. 30 October 2002. Retrieved 21 January 2023 – via The Free Library.
  57. ^ Coventry Evening Telegraph Friday 30 May 1986
  58. ^ Liverpool Echo 28 December 1994, page 4

External links[edit]

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