# How notorious predator George Gibney finally faced justice

An episode of [In The News](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1566625447), 12 Oct 2026, 31 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/in-the-news/e/6accc6743dc1c1be4a928b8b/media.mp3

Before the summer court recess George Gibney (77), former Irish Olympic swimming coach, was found guilty of sexually abusing four girls in the 1970s and 1980s. The jury found him guilty of 39 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape of children. One of Ireland’s most notorious paedophiles, he was extradited from Florida last year where he had escaped justice for decades. Due to reporting restrictions he was referred to as “sports coach” but as soon as the guilty verdict was announced, he could be named. Sentencing Gibney on Monday, Judge Mícheál O’Higgins handed down an aggregate sentence of 16 years and eight months, with 14 months suspended. This results in a sentence of 15 years and six months in prison. More than 30 years after he first broke the story about Gibney’s crimes, sports writer Johnny Watterson was in court this week as the disgraced swimming coach learned his fate. In today's episode, he joins Bernice Harrison to discuss three decades of writing about Gibney and the long road to justice for the victims. Produced by Suzanne Brennan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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