Irish dance teacher who sexually assaulted a child was judging competitions six years ago

 • 55m ago

An Irish dance teacher, who has now been jailed for sexually assaulting a child, was being tasked with judging children’s competitions in Ireland and abroad as recently as six years ago.

An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelacha, the biggest and oldest Irish dancing body in the world, has admitted that it does not know when John Gerard Roddy was last registered as an Irish dance teacher or a competition judge

The dance body, which is currently battling a global cheating scandal, originally claimed that Roddy had not been registered with the CLRG “at any stage” in the last 15 years. But this statement was retracted after Independent.ie found evidence that Roddy had been selected to travel across a number of counties and countries judging competitions at least as recently as 2017.

Roddy (63) and of Daly Crescent, Edenballymore, Co Derry, has been described as a “well known” dance teacher from Derry. He was sentenced at Antrim Crown Court on January 18.

Roddy, who has been jailed for six years, was convicted of seven offences including sexual activity with a child between the ages of 13 and 16. The offences took place between July 1, 2007, and December 31, 2012.

Earlier this week, a spokesperson for the CLRG told Independent.ie that it had only become aware of the conviction of Roddy through media reports and that Roddy “has not been registered with CLRG at any stage in the last 15 years”.

“CLRG has very strict child safeguarding and protection policies in place in all regions around the world which requires all teachers and those working with teachers to be fully vetted by the relevant policing and/or vetting authorities,” the spokesperson said.

But Independent.ie found evidence that Roddy had been selected to judge children’s dance competitions in Glasgow in 2012, Donegal in 2015, Louth in 2016, and had been selected as a judge for a planned European championship in Spain in 2017.

After this was sent to the CLRG, a spokesperson said: “CLRG is currently reviewing past records to verify when Mr Roddy was last registered with CLRG. Due to an error, the date in our last communication was incorrect. CLRG wishes to apologise for this mistake.”

Roddy will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

At the time of Roddy’s sentencing, Constable Jason McMorris of the PSNI said: “Roddy breached his position of trust in the victim’s life, coercing and manipulating him. He took what should have been carefree, happy, teenage years away from him. No person, let alone a child, should ever be exploited in this heinous way.

“The victim showed immense courage and bravery to report these crimes to us, which have had a lasting impact on him for many years. I hope that his strength and confidence in the Police to conduct a thorough investigation encourages other victims of child abuse to come forward and report.

“We take a robust stance against targeting sex offenders, particularly those who target and abuse children, and will work tirelessly to get take these people off our streets.

“Time is no barrier to reporting offences and I would urge anyone who has been victim of a sexual offence at any time to come forward. Do not suffer in silence. Call 101 or 999 in case of emergency.”