Former Team GB gymnast Alexander Hicken walks free from court after Judge William Mousley QC handed him a 2-year suspended sentence of 21 months in prison. The 23-year-old gymnast who represented the junior Team GB at the Loule Gymnastic World Cup in Portugal in 2012, took advantage and preyed on a drunk woman two years ago. He escaped an immediate jail sentence as the judge said he had only been 21 at the time of the attack.
According to Basingstoke Gazette, Hicken was at a party where his victim had been put to bed because she was too drunk. The Basingstoke Gymnastic Club coach bragged to his friends, “I'm going to **** her,” then repeatedly sexually touched the intoxicated woman in an eight-hour ordeal where he kept putting his hand on her thigh and buttocks despite she telling him to stop and reminding him that he had a girlfriend.
He ignored the woman’s demands to stop, which has caused the victim to suffer from depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, the court heard. In the two days after the incident took place, the victim made 27 separate searches on her phone related to sexual assault as she tried to look for answers on how to deal with it.
In a court statement from the victim, she said, "I blame myself constantly for what happened... since this occasion I will never drink to excess, I don't like the idea of not being in control.” “Since this happened I have nightmares where I think Alex is sitting at the end of my bed. I often find myself looking around my room to check he isn't there,” she told the court.
Adrienne Knight, legal representative to Hicken, provided several character references to the judge to show that there was another side to the disgraced young coach who also teaches children. Knight argued that Hicken could well be rehabilitated if he was not imprisoned immediately.
After handing down his suspended sentence, the judge also gave Hicken a restraining order that bans him from contacting the victim for 10 years. “You are now barred from being a gymnastics coach which you have done for a number of years and your employment opportunities will be restricted,”Judge Mousley added.
