Karate instructor cleared of sex assaults at retrial

A karate instructor who was jailed for sexually assaulting teenage boys has been cleared of all charges at a retrial.

Andrew Sherry, a founder member of the Karate Union of Great Britain (KUGB), was found guilty following a trial in March 2024 of indecently assaulting one boy, under the age of 16, in the mid-1980s, and of four counts of sexual assault on an older teenager in 2011 or 2012.

The trial heard the 82-year-old, a ninth dan black belt, founded the Red Triangle karate club in Everton, Liverpool, and achieved “prominence and standing” in the sport, before he retired in March 2022 after a police investigation was launched.

His convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal in September and a retrial was ordered.

The jury in Mr Sherry’s retrial found him not guilty on all five counts last week, a Liverpool Crown Court spokesman said.

At his sentencing last May, Tania Griffiths KC, representing Mr Sherry, said: “He has lost everything by these convictions.

“He’s lost his good name, lost his reputation and lost his world standing.”