Torchbearer for Olympic games jailed over abuse

Pervert preyed on girls at activities centre

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A CLIMBING instructor who was a torchbearer in the 2012 London Olympics has been jailed for five years for sexually abusing girls at his adventure activities centre.

Alan Ellinson, then in his 50s, repeatedly exposed himself to pupils during lessons and duped them into touching his genitals by asking them to reach inside the pockets of his shorts for a packet of Haribo sweets.

The offending occurred when Ellinson was helping girls aged between 10 and 12 scale indoor and outdoor walls at his club the Rope Race Climbing Centre in Marple, near Stockport which he ran with his wife for 30 years.

He was initially charged with flashing offences as long ago as 2019 but acquitted at a trial amid claims accusers had mistaken rope equipment tied around his waist for his penis.

Ellinson, from Poynton was re-arrested in 2021 after another girl he once taught contacted a fellow former pupil and they began sharing their experiences at his hands. Two more victims came forward later.

When quizzed by police Ellison who in 2012 abseiled with the Olympic flame down the iconic Dock Tower in Grimsby at the start of day 40 of the torch relay and who claims to have raised more than £12m for charity through abseiling and zip wire events denied wrongdoing.

During his interview he accused the girls of being 'vindictive and feral' and even said he 'hated his job." Prosecutors said he flashed at his victims to “get a buzz.”

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester Ellinson now 68, was convicted of three charged of exposure and allegations of inciting sexual activity with a child under 13. His climbing centre which he founded in 1993 closed in 2023.