March 2013 – Leslie Smith is stripped of his OBE

April 2012

Former cricket coach Leslie Smith jailed for abusing boy

A 75-year-old former cricket club coach has been jailed after admitting sexually abusing a boy.

Leslie Smith carried out the assaults on the teenager in the 1980s while coaching at an amateur club in the Aylesbury Vale area of Buckinghamshire.

Smith, of Maritime Street, Edinburgh, was jailed for 18 months at Aylesbury Crown Court on Monday.

He admitted two counts of indecent assault.

The offences happened between November 1985 and October 1986, when the victim was aged 16 and 17.

In a statement released through Thames Valley Police after the hearing, the victim said he had been treated for depression and stress.

“My life has been blighted in so many areas,” he said.

“I have suffered from frequent panic and anxiety attacks, insomnia, agoraphobia and feelings of acute worthlessness. It got so bad at times that I just didn’t care whether I lived or died.”

Det Sgt Joe Banfield, of Thames Valley Police, said the victim had showed “great bravery”.

“Smith held a position of responsibility within the cricket club he was a part of, and the fact he abused this position to carry out these crimes is despicable,” he said.

Smith was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years and was disqualified from working with children.