Ex-tennis coach jailed for 18 years in France for rape of minors

A tennis coach who raped four girls aged between 12 and 17, and was described as a “guru” who treated his victims as “sex slaves”, was Wednesday jailed for 18 years by a French court.

Andrew Geddes, 53, carried out his attacks at two clubs to the north of Paris, from the start of 2000 and between 2009 and 2014.

The court heard his first victim was just 12 when she met Geddes in 1999.

A great tennis hope of her generation, she said she was raped and sexually assaulted nearly 400 times until she was 14 years old.

It was a pattern that was repeated with three other victims, aged 15 to 17 when they were coached by Geddes.

The victims said Geddes forced them to sever links with families and friends and subjected them to a series of violent sex attacks in his car, in changing rooms or during training courses.

The court, hearing Geddes’s appeal after his initial 18-year conviction, said they all became “sex slaves” of a man who was effectively their “guru”.

Geddes told the court that the “extremely upsetting statements of the victims made me feel like garbage”.

He also admitted having “become aware” of his “guilt” and the “horrors” committed.