• Daniel Sanders jailed after pleading guilty to child sex offences
• Association’s response ‘erroneous and inadequate’ says report
The Lawn Tennis Association failed for five years to act strongly enough on repeated warnings about the behaviour of a coach, Daniel Sanders, who went on to seriously sexually abuse a young female player, an independent review has found. Sanders retained his job as the head coach at the Wrexham Tennis Centre, despite complaints by other coaches, concerned parents and players about his inappropriately sexualised and bullying behaviour, until he was arrested and charged in 2017.
Sanders, 44, a level five elite coach who had been Tim Henman’s doubles partner as a player, pleaded guilty in June 2017 to eight sexual offences committed against the girl, who was younger than 16 at the time, and was sentenced to six years in prison. The Guardian reported in November 2017 on the warnings made to the WTC, Tennis Wales and the LTA about Sanders before he committed those offences. The LTA then apologised for its safeguarding failures and in December 2017 commissioned a review by the independent dispute service Sports Resolutions.
Written by David Conn
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/25/lta-failed-act-warnings-sex-abuse-coach-daniel-sanders under the title “LTA failed to act on warnings about coach later convicted of sexual abuse”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
