A FORMER Olympic Games judge has been jailed for sexual abuse after a private detective used the Internet to track down his victims.

Ron Smith, 65, of Wessex Road, Didcot, was sentenced to three years in prison at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday last week for offences committed more than 20 years ago.

Smith, a former teacher and after-school gym instructor during the 1980s, was found guilty of five counts of indecent assault on a male under the age of 14 and one count of indecency with a child aged under 16.

Smith, a gymnastics judge for the 1984 Olympics, was found not guilty of a further three counts of indecent assault on a male under 14.

Rachel Drake, prosecuting, said investigations began six years ago after allegations were made about Smith's behaviour towards a young boy during the 1970s. The allegations were not enough to make a case, she said, but the British Gymnastics Association hired a private detective, who used the Friends Reunited website to track down other victims.

She said: "It was through his efforts that the first two complainants in this case came forward."

During the trial, the court heard about incidents between 1982 and 1986 involving three victims who were aged between ten and 13 at the time.

Smith took them on weekend trips, during which they would camp, stay in youth hostels and in Smith's own flat at Bath. The court was told that the boys, who were given beer and shown pornography, were made to share his tent and on one occasion, his bed, where he sexually assaulted a boy.

Miss Drake added: "Some of those boys you found physically attractive and ensured those were the boys you would share a tent with."

Smith told the court he might have slept in tents with boys, offered them a sip of his beer and they might have seen one of his top shelf magazines by accident, but he denied indecent assault.

He said: "It was my very great pleasure to share my interests with my friends, adult as well as young.

"I would like to point out there has been vast cultural shifts in Britain over the last 40 years - or even 20 years ago - that what was reasonably acceptable then is a definite no, no now.

"But when I think about all these events and allegations it is like looking through a kaleidoscope and trying to find a pattern - but I cannot."

After the guilty verdicts, Miss Drake told the jury that Smith was found guilty of indecent assault against two 12-year-old boys and fined £20 in 1969.

Smith was given permission to continue teaching after writing to the then Secretary of State, defending barrister, Andrew Lamden, explained.

Judge Julian Hall, who read a number of letters from former pupils and young gymnasts, said: "It is quite clear that you were a star in your world. It is quite clear that you have made a most positive contribution to the lives of many children, particularly in the field in which you are a specialist, but you abused the trust of some of them.

"On those occasions in the 1980s, you created for them a tension by sexually abusing them which never leaves people, and that is the evil of it; it produces confusion and uncertainty."