British Judo sanctioned coach over sexual relationship with athlete - and then promoted him

British Judo has been condemned for promoting a male coach to work with its Women's Olympic team just a year after he was found to have "abused his position of trust" by having a sexual relationship with a vulnerable female athlete.

The move to promote Simon Moss has been criticised as sending "entirely the wrong message" by Kyniska Advocacy, a leading women’s group in sport.

The group said his promotion was "quite shocking" and called for an external review of the case.

There are questions too for the funding body UK Sport, who are aware of the case as it was considered by their Eligibility Panel.

In 2021, a report by Walsall-based British Judo, concluded that Simon Moss "abused his position of trust over [the athlete] by having a sexual relationship with her whilst he was her coach..."

The athlete, who is from the West Midlands is being kept anonymous, told ITV News Central: "It [the promotion] basically completely belittled anything that I had said to British Judo about him.

"They'd basically not even listened to anything that I'd had to say, completely disregarded it, and then carried on doing whatever they wanted.

"And it was almost like he was being rewarded for his bad behaviour."

Mr Moss was suspended with pay for nine months during the investigation and given a formal written warning at the end of the process.

The report pointed out that he "...started using a different phone to contact [the athlete], telling her that he did not want others to know when he was online."

It added he is "a coach on the England programme and should be setting an example to other coaches."

Due to issues at home, she would wash her clothes and shower at Mr Moss' house. 

But the sanctions were at the "lower end" of the disciplinary scale because the report found that while the athlete could be considered vulnerable, Mr Moss did not see her that way and would not have known fully of her vulnerabilities. It also found that he did not represent a risk to others.

The athlete, who says the breach of trust has had a profound impact on her love of sport, said: "I struggle with having sensible relationships, healthy relationships with coaches or gym staff or anything like that these days.

"It's also taken the fun out of all my sporting endeavours and obviously it's meant that I've dropped out of judo, which is a sport that I've loved and done for most of my life."

Kyniska Advocacy, a group which promotes policies for women in sport, said the report is "quite shocking".

Its general manager Mhairi Maclennan said: "It's just quite shocking. I think when we know that somebody has violated their codes of conduct or their expected duty of care responsibilities to then promote them... it just sends entirely the wrong message to athletes, to other coaches, to parents.

"It's everything that you don't want to be happening when you're trying to promote safe sport."

She has called on British Judo to make a number of changes and apologise to the athlete.

"There should be a review of that case, but not done internally. That should be done externally,” she said.

"There are organisations that do independent reviews such as Sports Resolutions I think in this case, there are too many like conflicts of interest in order for them to be able to reassess that themselves.

"I also just don't think that sport should really be marking their own homework in any of this anyway.

"They should be doing an entire review of their policies and procedures, practices, what training and development opportunities they have for coaches because this isn't just about athletes and protecting them.

"That is the priority. But we also need to ensure that coaches, parents, sports personnel are adequately equipped to do so."

British Judo said: "British Judo is unable to discuss the details of individual cases, which must remain confidential.

"However, we take all complaints extremely seriously and we are satisfied that a thorough investigation was carried out and appropriate action was taken as a result.

"At the conclusion of our disciplinary processes, the matter was referred to the UK Sport Eligibility Panel, in accordance with the UK Sport Eligibility Policy.

"We are committed to maintaining a safe and supportive environment for all of our members, athletes and staff. We have comprehensive safeguarding procedures in place; all our coaches receive ongoing training and education and we work with respected third-party organisations to ensure we follow best practice that prioritises athlete welfare at all times."

In 2020, UK Sport chair Dame Katherine Grainger told ITV News: "I think we're putting out the message loud and clear that behaviours that are unacceptable, and people who behave in that way are just not welcome, they’re not welcome in sport."

ITV News Central suggested to UK Sport that the outcome of this case was perhaps not in keeping with that statement.

A UK Sport spokesperson said: "While we are unable to comment on employment matters within national governing bodies, this case was considered by our Eligibility Panel.

"The Panel is responsible for applying our Eligibility Policy, which sets out the criteria athletes and athlete support personnel must meet to be eligible to receive public funding and/or publicly funded benefits.

"We believe it is essential that high-performance sport environments are safe and positive, allowing athletes to develop and fulfil their lifetime ambitions. This is central to our ambition to keep winning and win well, and we remain committed to working with the high-performance sporting community to uphold the highest standards of ethics, integrity and athlete welfare.

"In addition, we support all high-performance programmes we invest in to create cultures that are ethical, healthy and balanced and offer tools including regular culture feedback surveys to support this work.

"If any athlete or member of staff within Olympic or Paralympic sport has a concern, we’d urge them to raise this within their sport, or to speak confidentially with third party organisations including the British Elite Athletes Association or Sport Integrity, the confidential reporting and independent investigation service."

ITV News Central has approached Mr Moss but he did not provide a statement. We also approached the British Olympic Association who declined to comment. 

It is hypothetical at the moment but the BOA will ultimately decide if he is part of the Team GB delegation at the Paris Olympics next year. 

If you have been affected by this story or would like to share a similar story please email centralnews@itv.com

Who to contact if you or someone you know needs help:

• Samaritans operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year, by calling 116 123. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org

• Papyrus offers support for children and young people under the age of 35 over the phone on 0800 068 41 41 between 9am and midnight every day of the year. If you would rather text you can do so on 07786 209697 or send an email to pat@papyrus-uk.org

• Mind also offers mental health support between 9am and 6pm, Monday to Friday. You can call them on 0300 123 3393 or text them on 86463. There is also lots of information available on their website.

• Hector's House is a suicide and crisis prevention and help resource, with links to specialist helplines