Camera spy swim perv out of prison

Coach who secretly filmed girls tries to keep low profile

- BY PAUL HEALY Crime Correspondent

A PERVERT swimming coach who secretly filmed young girls has walked free from prison.

Matthew Coward, 35, of Shantalla Drive in Santry, kept his hood pulled up as he was freed from Dublin's Arbour Hill jail, having served just over two years of a three-year sentence for sexual exploitation and producing child abuse images.

He had been handed down the three-year sentence in November of 2023 and was freed due to standard remission.

Yesterday's release comes after short-tempered Coward, who previously attacked an RTE cameraman, was hospitalised just days ago after punching a wall inside his cell in a moment of anger over media coverage of his impending release.

The former Swim Ireland coach set up cameras and recorded young girls for over a year. He was eventually caught when gardai probed his activities at a swimming complex amid suspicions.