Sex assault coach Anthony Pickering 'showed no remorse'

A former Lake District football coach who sexually assaulted youngsters before and after training sessions has been jailed for five years.

Anthony Pickering, 56, molested the boys - all aged under 14 - more than 30 years ago.

Pickering, formerly of Claife Avenue, Windermere, denied 10 indecent assault charges, but was convicted at Carlisle Crown Court last month.

Sentencing him, Judge James Adkin said he had shown "no remorse".

Pickering targeted one boy while giving him lifts home.

He threatened another - vowing to report him for shoplifting if he spoke out about the offences.

Jurors heard Pickering, known as Tony, was convicted of indecently assaulting two other boys in similar circumstances by a general court martial in Germany in 1995 while serving with the Army.

He was subsequently given a dishonourable discharge.

At his sentencing hearing, it emerged Pickering is currently serving a 10-year jail term handed down in 2012 for sexually assaulting a young girl in West Yorkshire.

Judge Adkin told him: "Those boys looked up to you and to abuse them for your own sexual gratification is a gross breach of trust.

"This was a committed course of sexual misconduct against a vulnerable group of boys."