Yorkshire scuba instructor found to have sexually assaulted teen girlsUK

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Crown Court (Photo: Duncan Andison/Shutterstock)

A former scuba diving instructor based in Ripon, Yorkshire, UK, was found by a court to have sexually assaulted two teenage girls.

Harold Covell, 85, faced charges at Newcastle Crown Court with inappropriately touching the two girls, aged 13 and 16 at the time, and sending e-mails of a sexual nature.

Covell himself was unable to attend court due to serious head injuries sustained in a fall in 2022, but was found to have committed the offences through a ‘trial of the facts’, a legal process used when a defendant is unfit to stand trial, but in which a jury can determine whether or not the alleged acts took place.

According to a BBC report, the court heard that Covell placed his hand on the thigh of the 13-year-old girl and told her he could ‘place it higher if she were a few years older’.

The court also heard that he had put his hands on the thighs of the 16-year-old girl and asked her for a hug, which caused her to ‘freeze and then push him away.’

Two other young women gave evidence at the trial alleging that Covell had sent them inappropriate e-mails that were found to be ‘clearly of a sexual nature.’

Judge Robert Spragg, presiding, praised the two girls for coming forward with their evidence (it is not clear from reports when the assaults occurred) and said there was ‘an obvious and clear public interest’ in conducting the trial.

Due to the severity of his injuries, Covell was given an ‘absolute discharge’, a sentence that finds an offence has been committed, but for which no punishment is imposed if it is deemed inappropriate or unnecessary.

Spragg said he ‘accepted the sentence might seem inadequate’, but hoped the two women would find ‘a level of closure’ from the results of the proceedings.