George Gibney arrested in US on foot of extradition request
George Gibney
has been arrested in the
United States
on foot of a
Garda
request to extradite him to Ireland, as part of an investigation into historical child sexual abuse.
Gardaí have been investigating a number of fresh allegations that Gibney sexually abused children in his care as a swimming coach decades ago. A request was made by the Garda to the US
State Department
to extradite Gibney to Ireland for questioning over alleged historical sex abuse.
Gardaí spent several months preparing the paperwork for the extradition request, following a renewed criminal investigation into allegations Gibney abused multiple children when he was a swimming coach in Ireland.
US authorities informed Garda Headquarters that they have taken Gibney into custody on foot of the extradition request, according to Garda sources.
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Gibney was a well-known coach at Trojan swimming club in Dublin during the 1980s and 1990s, before abuse revelations emerged publicly. Gibney previously faced criminal charges in 1993, appearing before Dún Laoghaire District Court charged with 27 counts of indecency against young swimmers and of having carnal knowledge of girls under the age of 15.
However, he successfully halted the prosecution by taking a judicial review, where his lawyers argued there was a delay in the offences coming to court and a lack of precision in defining specific alleged incidents.
The legal challenge ended up in the Supreme Court, which ruled in his favour. Gibney fled Ireland afterwards, spending time in Scotland before moving to the US. Now in his 70s, he has been living near Orlando, Florida, for several years.
A 2020 podcast documentary by BBC Sounds and Second Captains, entitled
Where Is George Gibney?
, re-examined the controversy and prompted more than a dozen new alleged victims of the swimming coach to come forward.
When confronted by the makers of the podcast in a suburb of Orlando where he lived, he refused to respond to questions about the sexual abuse allegations.
A number of the alleged abuse victims who came forward following the documentary made criminal complaints to An Garda Síochána, who at the time had already opened a fresh investigation into alleged historical abuse by Gibney.
Following that renewed investigation a file was submitted by gardaí to the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2023. The new case relates to different instances of alleged abuse to those Gibney was previously charged with in the 1990s.
It is understood gardaí submitted the extradition request to US authorities late last year, at which point it became a matter for US officials to review and process the paperwork and then carry out the arrest.
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