Abuse victim’s “devastation” after boxing coach spared trial

In an interview with the BBC, Simon Byrne, who is a client of Leigh Day, spoke about the toll the ordeal has taken on him.

Simon, now 55, first reported abuse by his former boxing coach Patrick Lowe to the police in 2021. However, by the time Lowe was due to stand trial more than three years later in November 2024, he was deemed mentally unfit to do so.

In May 2025, Lowe was found to have committed the offences in a fact-finding hearing and put on the sex offenders’ register, but Simon says he feels that true justice has not been done.

He told the BBC that the abuse he experienced, which lasted until he was 15, had “robbed” him of a huge part of his life, and that the ordeal of the delayed court process had taken a mental and physical toll.

Simon and his wife Maria have since launched a petition urging the government to make changes to the law around sexual offenders considered too ill or old to stand trial.

Simon is represented by Leigh Day partner and specialist abuse lawyer Dino Nocivelli.

Dino said:

“The delays that victims of abuse can face when attempting to seek justice is of great concern. Coming forward to report abuse can be a difficult ordeal, made only harder by the years it can take for a case to make its way through the courts and to trial. In Simon’s case, it has resulted in his abuser being eventually declared unfit to stand trial – meaning that he will not truly be held to account in court for his actions. Changes to the judicial system must be considered to help avoid such situations where justice is delayed and often denied.”