Hove paedophile Michael Green jailed for more sex offences

AN PERVERT ice hockey coach and sports teacher has been sentenced for a third time for another series of historic sexual offences against young boys.

Michael James Green, 80, previously of Neville Avenue in Hove, denied 12 counts of buggery and indecent assaults when he appeared at Chichester Crown Court but was convicted on July 7 after a nine-day trial.

The offences against four boys took place between 1973 and 1993 and came to light when the victims saw publicity about his previous offending and contacted police.

At the time of the abuse, all of the boys were aged between 13 and 16 years of age.

Green, who was also a friend and mentor of Sarah Payne’s killer Roy Whiting, met two of the boys when he worked as an insurance salesman in Brighton.

One of the boys thought of Green as a family friend but was abused in his own home.

Green gained access to the second boy through coaching an ice hockey team in Brighton, who he took him to Devil’s Dyke where he abused him. He also abused him at Green’s home address.

He forced both boys to perform sex acts and raped one of them.

Green went on to be a sports coach at a boarding school in West Sussex, where he abused the other two boys, grooming and assaulting them.

He was sentenced to 17 and a half years imprisonment by the court earlier today.

Detective Constable Nikki Thiim of the Sussex Police Complex Abuse Unit, who investigated the latest allegations, said: “We have huge admiration for the courage the four latest victims have shown throughout the investigation and this trial.

“Their resilience to help see justice fully done, and the giving of their evidence at the trial has been remarkable.

“Green always denied these allegations, which forced them to relive their experiences in court, which has been extremely difficult and upsetting for them.

“It is clear that for many years, Green has actively involved himself in families, befriending them, encouraging them to let him involve their sons in sport, giving him access to young and often vulnerable boys, who he has systematically abused.”

Green was already serving time in prison, having been sentenced to nine years in September 2018 after being convicted of 17 indecent assaults between 1980 and 1994 against seven boys aged between 12 and 16, in addition to another nine-year sentence imposed in 2014 for four counts of sexual offences against four young boys.

Information on reporting sexual offences, no matter how long ago, is available on the Sussex Police website.