January 2015

Comedian exposed as convicted sex offender who was imprisoned for abusing 15-year-old boy

A stand-up comic who has been pictured with comedy stars including Phill Jupitus and John Bishop is a convicted sex offender who filmed himself spanking a 15-year-old boy.

Russell Haynes, 42, whose Instagram account shows him with a host of stars, spent two years behind bars for indecent assault and possession of hundreds of indecent pictures of children.

Then a gymnastics coach, Haynes had tied up his victim, a 15-year-old boy, and filmed the youngster performing a number of lewd sex acts

Now the father-of-two from South London, who remains of the Sex Offenders’ Register, is a regular on the UK comedy circuit, rubbing shoulders with such luminaries as Sean Lock, Russell Kane, Lee Nelson and Jenny Eclair.

Haynes was jailed in 2008 at Inner London Crown Court where he admitted indecent assault and making hundreds of indecent images and videos of children.

He targeted youngsters while running the Camberwell Gymnastics Club in south-east London, where he was director, coach and, ironically, child protection officer.

Haynes’s trial revealed he had groomed his underage victim after setting up a chat forum for teenagers on which he posed as a girl called ‘Jenny’ to entice the boy to send him explicit pictures

He then convinced the boy, a regular at the club from the age of seven, to share a room with him on club trips and encouraged him to strip and perform gymnastics naked or in women’s underwear while Haynes took photographs.

Police officers recovered 175 computer files containing more than 1,000 indecent images of children when they raided his home. One filmed clip showed Haynes spanking the boy.

Haynes took up his current profession as a stand-up comic on his release from jail in 2009. According to his personal website he now does as many as seven performances a week.

In June he shared a bill with Russell Kane at a gig in Southend in Essex. Kane is best known for appearing on BBC Three’s Live At The Electric.

Haynes called his sex offending ‘the biggest regret of my life.’

‘It all happened ten years ago and fortunately I’ve moved on,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to do anything that wrecks that.’

April 2008

Pervert gym coach jailed

A GYM coach who posed as a teenager’s online girlfriend to groom, grope and photograph the bound and gagged youngster, was jailed for two years today.

Russell Haynes, 35, bombarded the 15-year-old he was training with “sexy” emails and pictures of the non-existent schoolgirl and then begged him to reply with similar indecent images.

The father-of-one, who was also supposed to be his club’s child protection officer, offered to help by telling his victim it would be safer letting him take the photographs.

The “trusting” child agreed and over the next year-and-a-half repeatedly posed indecently in front of the camera.

To begin with he was photographed performing gymnastics naked.

But as the months passed the pictures and videos taken depicted “increasingly severe pornography” with the youngster either tied up and gagged or performing a variety of sex acts.

Inner London Crown Court heard the pervert, who spent years as both the director and coach of a privately owned south London gym club, even filmed himself spanking the teenager.

Heather Norton, prosecuting, said eventually the child became suspicious and realised he had been tricked.

Sickened by his behaviour he stopped seeing his coach, gave up gymnastics and, after “months in denial” finally told police.

Officers recovered 175 computer files containing more than 1,000 indecent images and films, including dozens in the most serious level five category.

Although most were of the teenager, other children also featured.

Indecent photographs of them were taken at his home and in the gym

Haynes, of Camberwell, south London, admitted two counts of indecent assault and 16 of taking indecent pictures and videos of the youngster.

He also pleaded guilty to one offence of making indecent photographs involving 968 images of the 15-year-old and other children.

In addition to his sentence, Haynes received an extended three-year licence following his release, register as a sex offender for 10 years, and is banned from working with children indefinitely.