Overview

• Snaresbrook Crown Court sentenced Viccars to 13 and a half years in prison plus three and a half years on extended licence, with Judge Caroline English delivering the remarks.
• The 47-year-old admitted 16 offences covering 2021 to 2024, including sexual communications with a child and meeting a child following grooming, while three further charges will lie on file.
• Prosecutors detailed grooming via Snapchat, a warning that WhatsApp was 'too risky', false claims that he was a teacher, and a voicenote calling a victim 'little girl' as he referred to himself as 'daddy' and 'teacher'.
• Victim statements described isolation, nightmares, flashbacks, damaged self-esteem and disrupted schooling, with evidence including a scrapbook from a teen he took to football matches under the guise of 'mentoring'.
• Referees’ body PGMOL said he was suspended as soon as allegations emerged and removed from its list, while the Metropolitan Police appealed for potential additional victims to contact 101.