Karate champion cleared of abusing teenagers

Mr Sherry had his 2024 convictions quashed two months ago and a retrial was ordered

A karate champion who was jailed for sexually assaulting teenage boys has been cleared of all charges at a retrial.

Andrew Sherry, 82, was convicted in March 2024 of indecently assaulting a boy under the age of 16 in the mid-1980s, and of four counts of sexual assault on an older teenager in 2011 or 2012 and jailed for two years.

Mr Sherry, a founder member of the Karate Union of Great Britain, had his convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal in September with a retrial ordered.

The jury in the retrial at Liverpool Crown Court cleared Mr Sherry, of Liverpool, of five counts.

The trial heard Mr Sherry, a ninth dan black belt, who founded the Red Triangle karate club in Everton, Liverpool, had achieved "prominence and standing" in the sport, before he retired in March 2022 after a police investigation was launched.

At his sentencing last May, Tania Griffiths KC, representing Mr Sherry, said: "He has lost everything by these convictions.

"He's lost his good name, lost his reputation and lost his world standing."