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Former chief instructor admits kissing Pony Club member
20 June, 2010
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Former Pony Club branch chief instructor Darren Hegarty has admitted kissing a 14-year-old Pony Club member on three occasions.
Darren Hegarty, 44, was chief instructor of the Staff College and Sandhurst Hunt branch when the offences took place in September 2009.
Hegarty, of The Avenue, Crowthorne, Berks, appeared at Winchester Crown Court on Friday (11 June).
He pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual activity with a male child aged under 16. But he denied taking indecent photographs of the boy and having sex with him.
The boy’s father told H&H that the offences had taken place at a barbeque and on Hegarty’s yard.
Hegarty will be sentenced on 9 July.
A spokesman for the Pony Club said it had initiated disciplinary procedures against Hegarty.
This article was first published in Horse & Hound (17 June, 2010)
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