{"id":544104,"date":"2026-07-11T07:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/544104\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T07:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:43:10","slug":"sexual-abuse-survivor-campaigns-to-enact-simons-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/544104\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexual abuse survivor campaigns to enact ‘Simon’s Law’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“It was soul destroying, horrible, I felt a sense that justice wasn’t done”.<\/p>\n

Simon Byrne, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, said he was devastated after he had to wait years for his case to get to court only to see his abuser declared mentally unfit to stand trial.<\/p>\n

He had reported to police in 2021 the abuse he suffered in Greater Manchester from the age of 11 at the hands of his then boxing coach Patrick Lowe.<\/p>\n

But by the time Patrick Lowe was set to stand trial in November 2024, he was deemed mentally unfit to face a criminal trial.<\/p>\n

\"Simon
\nSimon Byrne (L) boxing in his younger days<\/p>\n

Instead, a fact-finding hearing held over a year ago found that Patrick Lowe had committed the offences, and he was put on the sex offenders register.<\/p>\n

‘At the time I thought, what’s the point?’<\/p>\n

“It was the first time in my life in a courtroom and it was a hard slog to get there,” Simon said.<\/p>\n

“At the time I thought, what’s the point? Everything I had worked for over four years to try and get this man convicted, and it didn’t happen.”<\/p>\n

Simon Byrne grew up in Manchester and because his parents were Irish, he was part of a very strong Irish community.<\/p>\n

He started boxing when he was 11 and within a few weeks Irish man and coach Patrick Lowe began sexually abusing him at the gym.<\/p>\n

The abuse continued for the next four years, until Simon’s older brother began training at the gym, at which point it stopped.<\/p>\n

\"Simon
\nSimon Byrne (in green vest) and Patrick Lowe (in white top) at their boxing club<\/p>\n

For 30 years, Simon never shared what happened. But in 2013, after spending time in a psychiatric hospital, he opened up to his wife Maria about the abuse.<\/p>\n

At this stage Simon and Maria were living in Ireland, having moved to Co Longford in 2000. It took Simon several years to report the abuse to police.<\/p>\n

He eventually reported the offences in 2021, after reading media coverage of the inquiry into historic child abuse in English football.<\/p>\n

Following an investigation by Greater Manchester Police, Patrick Lowe was charged in 2023 but he denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

The trial was set for November 2024. However, the day before it was due to take place, Simon got the news that it had been cancelled. He received the phone call while on the boat from Ireland to Manchester.<\/p>\n

Patrick Lowe, by then 85, had been diagnosed with dementia and was deemed unfit to plead.<\/p>\n

“I nearly lost Simon that day”, said his wife Maria. He handed me his car keys, his wallet, his phone, and he said, ‘I’m done’.<\/p>\n

“Thankfully a phone call came from his independent sexual violence advisor and she explained there was another way.”<\/p>\n

\"Simon
\nSimon Byrne and his wife Maria<\/p>\n

That other way was a fact-finding trial which went ahead last May.<\/p>\n

“It’s incredibly rare and Simon had to fight to get one”, explained Maria. “They are normally used in family law.”<\/p>\n

The four day fact-finding hearing held last May offered some consolation when the jury found Patrick Lowe guilty of the offences and he was put on the sex offenders register.<\/p>\n

But Simon and Maria didn’t stop there.<\/p>\n

Spurred on by their experience of the justice system, the couple wanted to channel their hurt and devastation, into change and reform of the justice system.<\/p>\n

They want to introduce ‘Simon’s Law’ to change how the justice system deals with elderly sex offenders who are deemed unfit for trial.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago the couple met the Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester Kate Green.<\/p>\n

They were accompanied to that meeting by Fay Maxted, CEO of the Survivors Trust, an organisation supporting specialist rape and sexual abuse services.<\/p>\n

\"L-R
\n(L-R) Fay Maxted, CEO Survivors Trust; Simon Byrne; Kate Green, Deputy Mayor of Manchester and Maria Byrne<\/p>\n

“It feels like they are listening and they understand our proposals.<\/p>\n

“They want to have another meeting to include senior management from the Greater Manchester Police and the Crown Prosecution Service,” Simon said.<\/p>\n

Some of the reforms the couple want to see include earlier and repeated cognitive assessments and clearer legal outcomes when a court determines abuse occurred in a trial of the facts.<\/p>\n

They want appropriate secure or supervised care placements where necessary, and stronger recognition of victims\u2019 rights and voices in the process.<\/p>\n

The campaign aims to balance compassion for those with serious cognitive illness with accountability, ensuring survivors are heard and that the justice system continues to protect the public.<\/p>\n

“It’s for the people who haven’t got the voice, the people who don’t see that there’s a way forward, because it can be very dark,” Simon said.<\/p>\n

‘We feel like we’re making progress’<\/p>\n

Simon, who waived his right to anonymity after the fact-finding trial, said he wants to encourage victims to come forward.<\/p>\n

“We feel like we’re making progress and that’s what this is all about. Not a day goes by where someone, somewhere doesn’t contact me.<\/p>\n

“People are frightened of the process and we want to help them.”<\/p>\n

The couple say that is their motivation and the campaign has given them the benefit of helping other victims.<\/p>\n

“Simon proved you can fight the system, if you’re strong enough, or if you are vocal enough,” Maria said.<\/p>\n

“We are going to be a thorn in their side, until we can get changes made,” she added.<\/p>\n

Their petition to get the law in the UK changed has so far gathered over 2,000 signatures and the petition requires 10,000 signatures to receive a formal government response.<\/p>\n

Here in Ireland, the couple are hoping to meet Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin and Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan to discuss legislation here.<\/p>\n

“We want to discuss the shortfalls and the loopholes that we can see now in the Irish law. Justice for survivors everywhere is at the heart of what we’re doing,” Maria said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Britain’s Ministry of Justice said: “Our thoughts are with all victims of child abuse – it takes immense courage to speak out, and we commend Simon for doing so.<\/p>\n

“The government inherited a justice system in crisis, and a record court backlog means victims are waiting too long for justice.<\/p>\n

“That’s why we’re pulling every lever available – record financial investment, system efficiencies, and pragmatic structural reforms – to turn the tide on the backlog and deliver faster, fairer justice for all.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“It was soul destroying, horrible, I felt a sense that justice wasn’t done”. Simon Byrne, a survivor of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-544104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}