- Andrew Sherry has been found guilty following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court
A former karate champion, 80, who was regarded as a ‘hero’ by his students has been found guilty of sexual assaults on teenage boys.
Andrew Sherry, a founding member of the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB), was accused of indecently assaulting one boy, under the age of 16, in the mid-1980s, and of four counts of sexual assaults on an older teenager in 2011 or 2012.
A trial at Liverpool Crown Court also heard he had allegedly propositioned two other male students in the 1990s.
On Friday, the former European and national champion was unanimously found guilty by a jury of all five counts.
The trial heard Sherry, a ninth dan black belt, founded the Red Triangle karate club in Everton, Liverpool, and achieved ‘prominence and standing’ in the sport, before he retired in March 2022 after a police investigation was launched.
A karate enthusiast from a young age, Sherry became the first person in Great Britain to be awarded a black belt in Shotokan karate in 1966.
His defence barrister claimed the allegations were the result of a conspiracy by other practitioners who wanted to ‘overthrow their leader’.
One complainant said he had given up a promising career in karate as a result of Sherry.
He said the sensei had asked him for ‘special favours’ when he was aged between 12 and 16, in the mid-1980s.
He said Sherry, of Mann Island, Liverpool, had wrestled with him while at his bungalow in West Derby, Liverpool, and he could tell he was ‘aroused’.
His instructor had then taken him to Knowsley Safari Park where he spoke about monkeys having sex, he said.
The man, who said he was groomed by Sherry, told the court: ‘He said “I’ll give you money, you’ll come to all the sporting events with me, you’ll stay with me, you won’t want for nothing, any clothes you want, anything you want. I’ll teach you how to become the best”.’
Under cross-examination by Tania Griffiths KC, defending, he denied his aim was to ‘bring down the KUGB’ and that he was working in collusion with others.
The second complainant, who was 18 at the time of the assaults, said Sherry massaged him on the buttocks and kissed him on the lips on more than one occasion.
He described Sherry asking if he could ‘hold’ him and putting his arms around him.
The man said: ‘I accepted this because Andrew Sherry was my instructor and it was a case of if he said “jump”, I said “how high?”.’
He also said on one occasion Sherry asked if he wanted to join him in the bedroom and was ‘visibly disappointed’ when they did not have sex.
Two other men, whom Sherry was not charged with offences against, claimed he had propositioned them in the 1990s.
One of them told the court: ‘He was an inspirational teacher to me. He was my hero.’
Sherry was granted bail after he was told he will be sentenced on May 1.
Adjourning the case for a pre-sentence report, Judge David Swinnerton told him: ‘I have heard quite a lot about your karate career but I need to get more background information about you.’
The allegations against Sherry were first publicly made in a Facebook post in 2020 by one of the men and later to the police.
During the trial, Sherry’s defence barrister said the Facebook post ‘may be (the complainant’s) drunken ramblings were the unwitting catalyst others have seized upon as their opportunity to overthrow their leader’.
After the allegations were published in 2021, a source who knew Mr Sherry described how the instructor was a ‘God’ of the discipline, adding: ‘The allegations have rocked the sport and have the potential to have the same impact in the karate world as the recent football sex abuse scandal had in that sport.’
In 1968 Sherry became European champion in kumite – one of the three main areas of karate training alongside kata and kihon – and won the first four KUGB karate competitions between 1967 and 1970.
He retired from competition in 1977 and began concentrating on coaching.
In 1990 he led the KUGB to victory at the World Shotokan Karate Championships, a feat which was repeated the following year.
In 2007, under his guidance, the England squad won European and World titles.
Mr Sherry became a ninth level black belt, or 9th dan, making him one of Britain’s highest ranking Shotokan karate practitioners, in 2013.
Karate is currently enjoying a renewed interest as a result of the success of Netflix’s Cobra Kai – a TV episodic sequel to the 1980s Karate Kid films.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
