May 2021 Sex offending boxing coach jailed A well-known boxing coach in a County Durham town has been jailed after being convicted at a recent trial of two sex offences involving an underage girl. Michael David Thompson was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment by Judge Ray Singh, among recent cases at Durham Crown Court. The self-employed plasterer, who also ran Mick’s Boxing Gym, in Crook, denied meeting a child following grooming and sexual assault by touching, both dating from April 2019, but after a two-day trial was found guilty by unanimous jury verdicts on his 39th birthday, in March. Following several delays in sentencing, he finally learned his fate last Friday, when he was also made subject of registration as a sex offender and restrictions under a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, both to run for ten years. Judge Singh said the victim was “vulnerable” due to her age, being under 16, while the offence was aggravated by an attempt by the defendant to prevent the victim from reporting the incident