‘Bully’ gym boss roared sexual remarks at teenage members

But Paul Kerr, 50, was spared a tougher sentence because the veteran sheriff said his conviction followed “one of the most ham-fisted prosecutions that it has ever been my misfortune to be involved in”.

Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard Kerr, who trained members of his “exclusive” gym in the style of TV’s “SAS: Who Dares Wins, set out to humiliate young clients, some of whom were schoolgirls who arrived in their uniforms.

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He told a 14-year-old girl he would “ride the guts out of her”, made a boast to a 17-year-old boy about a sexual encounter with the youngster’s mother years before, and told a “shy” 17-year-old girl; “I want to smash your back doors in”.

Kerr, of Kinross, who was also formerly worked as a residential school care worker, was branded “sick, disgusting” by a fourth victim, a 15 year old girl he exposed to “daily” sex patter.

He was placed on the sex offenders’ register and under supervision for nine months after being found guilty by a jury of repeatedly making sexual comments to the youngsters at his club, PJK MMA in Glenrothes, from February 2017 to August 2018.

The verdicts came at the end of a five-week trial in September which heard nearly 50 witnesses.

Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist QC told Kerr: “You bullied those young people to an extent that crossed the line into criminality.

“You motive was to humiliate them.

“It seems to me you bought into your own publicity.

“You were playing ‘big man’ and you thought this was a good way of exerting your authority over people who were quite literally unable to stand up to you.”

Kerr had also faced more than 25 other charges, including assault, sexual assault, and breach of the peace, all of which were either dropped or which ended with a mixture of not proven and not guilty verdicts.

A police probe began after a 49-year-old female member claimed he had “excessively” kicked her leg while sparring.

Kerr was found not guilty of this alleged assault after Sheriff Gilchrist told jurors: “The law recognises that in contact sports, things happen that might otherwise be assaults.”

Among the allegations found not proven was that Kerr had played Nazi-style music, expressed appreciation of Hitler, worn clothing bearing a swastika – in reality just a memorial T-shirt for a dead biker with a “broken-sun cross” -- and encouraged children to march up and down and salute him.

Jurors heard the Waffen-SS War March from the 2014 Brad Pitt movie “Fury” was once played through the loudspeakers for just 30 seconds.

A youth said he used to give Kerr “Nazi salutes”, and Kerr “did it back” as a joke, in the context of Kerr – a history fan – helping his homework.

Sheriff Gilchrist told Kerr: “This was one of the most ham-fisted prosecutions that it has ever been my misfortune to be involved in, in my entire career of criminal law.

“It started with a police investigation which appears to have wilfully ignored mountains of evidence which suggests that much of the allegations that they were hoovering up were untrue.

“[This] approach appears to have been enthusiastically adopted by the Crown in producing an indictment with a ridiculous number of charges, some of which were pursued with an absurd vigour despite the fact that those alleged victims were protesting throughout that the allegations did not happen.

“Weeks of court time were spent listening to evidence of an appallingly poor quality which, not entirely unsurprisingly, the jury rejected.

“All of that put you where you had hanging over you charges which no doubt you had reason to think might result in very serious consequences.

“Much more seriously for the administration of justice, all of that had the potential to obscure the fact that, at its core, there was criminal conduct here on your behalf towards a number of teenagers who were potentially vulnerable.”

In opting for supervision rather than an unpaid work order, Sheriff Gilchrist said he regarded it as a mitigation that Kerr had been “subjected to all the other stuff”.

He added: “The whole case has a very unpleasant air hanging over it.

“One of the distasteful aspects is that – because of all the nonsense surrounding it – you have been able to portray yourself as a victim and claim you were falsely accused in relation to everything, which is not the case.

“There was a marked difference in quality between the evidence of the four young people that resulted in the convictions, and the rest of the case.

“You clearly need supervision in an attempt to to adjust your attitudes towards young people.”

The trial heard that more than 60 members paid £110-pounds-a month for a fitness regime at Kerr’s gym, including Thai Boxing, Brazilian Jui-Jitsu, and “Insanity” workouts.

The white-haired and stocky, fake-tan fan, now working as a joiner, was described by one police officer as “narcissistic”, with a branded car and personalised merchandise.

He denied all the accusations.

Susan Duff, defending, said: “He failed to appreciate the impact of sexual banter on teenagers.

“Almost in the blink of an eye he lost everything – his business, his home, his livelihood, his health, and his reputation.

“The man appearing today is a very different one from the successful gym owner riding on the crest of the wave of success.”

A Crown Office spokesman said: “The Crown takes a rigorous approach to the investigation and preparation of all cases of sexual offending, particularly those involving children.

“This criminal prosecution and the charges libelled in this case were carefully considered at each stage by experienced prosecutors acting independently in the public interest.

“The Procurator Fiscal has offered to meet with the Sheriff to discuss his concerns in this case.”

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