York Karate Champion Jailed For Child Abuse.

An international karate champion and trusted martial arts teacher from York has been jailed for five years for grooming and sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.

Liam O'Grady fought back tears as he was handcuffed and taken from York Crown Court after a judge said he had grossly breached the trust placed in him by the girl's parents.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, heard during a trial last year that O'Grady, 30, of Larchfield, Osbaldwick, sent sexual texts and pictures of himself to the teenager.

The court was told that O'Grady send her almost 5,000 texts in total, and abused her at his home, in his car and also in men's toilets.
Last month, a jury found him guilty of one count of meeting a child following sexual grooming and three of sexual activity with a child.

Judge Ashurst said that, if the sexual activity had begun just a few months earlier, when the girl was 12, O'Grady would have been going to jail for rape.

The judge said O'Grady would be placed on the Sex Offenders Register and banned from working with children.

He also gave him an indefinite Sex Offenders Prevention Order which restricts his access to female children.
Speaking outside the court, Det Insp Shaun Page, of North Yorkshire Police, said on Friday: 

``I am pleased with the result and I think the sentence today gives some comfort to the family of the victim.''

Mr Page praised the courage of the victim and other children who gave evidence. He also said officers had looked closely at whether there had been other victims but no-one had come forward.