Telford school football coach guilty of string of child sex offences

Joe Hall, 26, who held a supervisory role at a school in the town and also volunteered with a dance team, was found guilty of seven counts including multiple charges of sexual activity with children between 13 and 17.

He was found not guilty of one count of possessing extreme pornographic images involving animals.

The charges mainly relate to activity over mobile phones, including sending and requesting sexual pictures and videos.

The offences were committed while Hall was in a position of responsibility for the youngsters concerned.

Yesterday a jury at Shrewsbury Crown Court found Hall, of Brands Farm Way, Randlay, Telford, guilty of indecent exposure and of inciting a child to sexual activity with one victim and showing two others under 16 a video of a sexual act.

He was also found guilty of sending lewd pictures and a pornographic video link to another victim, inciting a child to observe him in a live feed on social media, and inciting a child to send sexual images to him.

With a further victim, Hall was found guilty of sending photos and a text message containing sexual references, and inciting the victim to engage in sexual activity.

The court heard that Hall gave one of the victims a lift home one day and told her she must ‘return the favour’, before exposing himself.

It was said that he told a girl in a message that she was “hot”.

Hall was arrested on March 1, 2017, after the girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons, reported the alleged offences to a teacher.

Hall denied all of the allegations. He told the jury that the children must have taken his phone and viewed the sexually explicit video while he was distracted.

He also said that he had sent some pictures and images of himself to the victims by mistake, meaning to send them to his girlfriend.

Hall was granted bail and will be sentenced at a later date.

Judge Peter Barrie warned the defendant and those in the courtroom to be careful about posting things on social media relating to the case.

He said: "It is very easy for people to say things on social media that they would never say face-to-face, it's important that everybody shows full restraint."