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Daily Mail
09-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Lawyer who defended depraved surgeon dubbed France's worst paedophile 'kills himself' weeks after his 'devil in a white coat' client was jailed for raping 298 patients
A lawyer who defended a surgeon dubbed France 's worst paedophile has died in an apparent suicide, a prosecutor said on Wednesday. Maxime Tessier, 34, represented the disgraced Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, who confessed at his trial to sexually assaulting or raping 298 patients between 1989 and 2014, many of them children. Everything points to suicide,' Frederic Teillet, chief prosecutor in the western French city of Rennes, said of the lawyer's death, adding that an investigation had been opened. Tessier, a father of two young children, 'had a very high regard for justice and was therefore very demanding towards himself', said Catherine Glon, his associate. 'We are obviously in shock', she added. He was one of two lawyers defending Le Scouarnec, one of the most infamous sex predators in French criminal history. Child rights advocates say the case had highlighted systemic failures that allowed Le Scouarnec to repeatedly commit sexual crimes. A prosecutor in the case called the former doctor 'the devil... dressed in a white coat'. He abused many victims while they were under anaesthesia or waking up after operations. A French court sentenced Le Scouarnec to 20 years in prison in May. His offences took place between 1989 and 2014, while other alleged crimes were not prosecute because they happened too long ago. During a three-month trial held in Vannes, the court heard how Le Scourarnec mainly abused patients while they were still under anaesthetic or slowly waking up following operations. Thomas Delaby, a barrister representing one of his victims, told Le Scourarnec he is 'the worst mass paedophile who ever lived' and 'an atomic bomb of paedophilia. Your victims will never forgive you'. Speaking just before the verdict, Le Scourarnec said: 'I'm not asking the court for leniency. Simply grant me the right to become a better person.' The defendant also explained how he had caused the the deaths of at least two of his victims. Le Scouarnec said: 'I am responsible for the deaths of Mathis Vinet, who died after an overdose in 2021' and Alan Roux, who was found hanged at his home in 2020. Lawyer Tessier, asked the court at the time to take into account the 'exceptional' nature of the surgeon's confession. In turn, prosecutors who had heard Le Scouarnec described as 'France's worst ever paedophile' said he was 'a devil' and there was 'a very high risk' of him re-offending if ever allowed out of his cell. Stéphane Kellenberger, the Attorney General, said his proven crimes were committed against 158 males and 141 females, with an average age of 11. Le Scouarnec had also kept a record of his crimes, documenting the victims' names, ages, addresses and the nature of the abuse. In his notes, the doctor described himself as a 'major pervert' and a 'paedophile'. 'And I am very happy about it,' he recorded. People demonstrated with posters reading 'No excuse for abuses', left, and 'How many more?', right, ahead of the verdict in the trial of Joel Le Scouarnec The graphic details allowed the police to track down his victims as most had no memory of the abuse as they were still unconscious. The verdict said the jury came to their decision after taking 'into account that the acts committed are of particular gravity due to the number of victims, their young age and the compulsive nature' of the crimes. Requesting a 'maximum possible sentence of twenty years' for Le Scouarnec, Mr Kellenberger said there needed to be 'additional security measures,' because of the danger Le Scourarnec still posed. The surgeon practised for decades until his retirement in 2017, despite a 2005 sentence for owning sexually abusive images of children. His wife, Marie-France Le Scouarnec, was also portrayed as a ruthless accomplice, while denying any wrongdoing. She spent her days taking lovers and going to aqua-aerobics, while her once highly respected surgeon husband repeatedly attacked children, it was alleged. Ms Le Scouarnec, the mother of his three sons, lived with him throughout that time, and has always denied knowing what he was doing. His wife, Marie-France Le Scouarnec, was also portrayed as a ruthless accomplice, while denying any wrongdoing But Patrick Le Scouarnec, the 70-year-old brother of the defendant, told the court that she was being untruthful. 'There is another person who could have ensured that my brother was arrested – it is his wife, Marie-France,' said Mr Le Scouarnec. Victims of Le Scouarnec have also accused Ms Le Scouarnec of covering up his 'paedocriminal activities' for decades. Ms Le Scouarnec said: 'I wondered how I could have not noticed anything. It's a terrible betrayal that he committed against me and my children.'
BBC News
08-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Stevenson leaves Newcastle for French club Vannes
Ben Stevenson has become the latest player to leave Newcastle Falcons after agreeing a move to RC Vannes in winger has signed a two-year deal with the Breton club, who have just been relegated from the Top Stevenson, 26, made 98 appearances for Newcastle after coming through the ranks and making his debut in season, he scored 10 tries in 23 games for the Falcons despite them finishing bottom of the Premiership."Ben has been a great servant to Newcastle but has taken up an opportunity to go and play in France," said consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond, external. "We wish him all the best for his move, and thank him for his contribution during his time with us." Since the start of 2025, Newcastle have lost Adam Radwan (Leicester Tigers), Max Pepper (Bristol Bears), Ben Redshaw (Gloucester) and captain Callum Chick (Northampton Saints).They finished bottom for a third successive season, but owner Semore Kurdi is actively looking for fresh investment into the Kingston Park club.
France 24
08-06-2025
- Business
- France 24
Stade Francais owner backs Gustard after relegation scare
The 14-time French champions needed a win over Castres on Saturday to confirm their top-flight status after a sluggish campaign Their 21-10 win saw them finish in 12th spot, nine points ahead of bottom side Vannes, who are relegated automatically, but just one point clear of Perpignan. The Catalans will face a play-off with Grenoble, who finished runners-up in ProD2, to see which will play in next season's Top 14. Gustard, who was England's defence coach under Eddie Jones, joined the Parisians in 2022 in the same role. After the sacking of Karim Ghezal in February of this year and the subsequent sidelining of Laurent Labit, the director of rugby, Gustard moved up to head coach. The 49-year-old was linked with a return to Leicester, where he won the Champions Cup as a player, but has now signed a new deal until 2028. "Paul would have stayed even if we had gone down," Wild told French media. "He's an excellent coach. He studied psychology, so he understands the mindset needed," the 83-year-old added. Stade Francais, who have the second highest budget in the Top 14 of 38 million euros ($43 million), won just 10 league games this season, having reached the playoff semi-finals barely 12 months ago. "It was not a good season," Wild said. "This is why we're meeting again on Wednesday to really work on the strategy for next year and what we have to change. "We clearly made mistakes in hiring, we let five or six very good people go, and what we got is nothing, absolutely nothing," he added without naming individual players. 'Flexible' German-born Wild, who is reportedly worth 3.6 billion euros ($4.11 billion) thanks to his soft drinks company Capri-Sun, bought the club in 2017 but said in March he was looking for someone in France to invest in the outfit with him. "I'm too old. That's the problem. I'll be 84 this month. So how long can I do it? "This is a very expensive hobby," he added. Wild denied reports claiming Bernard Arnault, CEO of the LVMH luxury goods conglomerate and France's richest man, was interested in adding the rugby club to Paris FC, the football club he owns. "We have interested people, but they need money," Wild said. "It depends on who it is. You have to be flexible. For next season, Wild, who was present for eight games this campaign, admitted the goal was qualifying for the Champions Cup. There will be changes in Gustard's coaching staff, with ex-France scrum-half Rory Kockott and former England prop Perry Freshwater arriving as his assistants. On the playing squad, they have been strongly linked by the rugby press with former New Zealand scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow and French prop Thierry Paiva, both at La Rochelle, as they look to avoid a repeat of this season's calamity. "If we had signed someone, we're not going to talk about it, yet," Wild said. "Most of the names in the press are wrong. "Whatever you read is all talk, by an agent," he added. © 2025 AFP
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Stade Francais owner backs Gustard after relegation scare
Stade Francais' billionaire owner Hans-Peter Wild on Sunday gave his full backing to Englishman Paul Gustard as head coach after the Parisians staved off the threat of relegation from the Top 14 in the last game of the regular season. The 14-time French champions needed a win over Castres on Saturday to confirm their top-flight status after a sluggish campaign Advertisement Their 21-10 win saw them finish in 12th spot, nine points ahead of bottom side Vannes, who are relegated automatically, but just one point clear of Perpignan. The Catalans will face a play-off with Grenoble, who finished runners-up in ProD2, to see which will play in next season's Top 14. Gustard, who was England's defence coach under Eddie Jones, joined the Parisians in 2022 in the same role. After the sacking of Karim Ghezal in February of this year and the subsequent sidelining of Laurent Labit, the director of rugby, Gustard moved up to head coach. The 49-year-old was linked with a return to Leicester, where he won the Champions Cup as a player, but has now signed a new deal until 2028. Advertisement "Paul would have stayed even if we had gone down," Wild told French media. "He's an excellent coach. He studied psychology, so he understands the mindset needed," the 83-year-old added. Stade Francais, who have the second highest budget in the Top 14 of 38 million euros ($43 million), won just 10 league games this season, having reached the playoff semi-finals barely 12 months ago. "It was not a good season," Wild said. "This is why we're meeting again on Wednesday to really work on the strategy for next year and what we have to change. "We clearly made mistakes in hiring, we let five or six very good people go, and what we got is nothing, absolutely nothing," he added without naming individual players. Advertisement - 'Flexible' - German-born Wild, who is reportedly worth 3.6 billion euros ($4.11 billion) thanks to his soft drinks company Capri-Sun, bought the club in 2017 but said in March he was looking for someone in France to invest in the outfit with him. "I'm too old. That's the problem. I'll be 84 this month. So how long can I do it? "This is a very expensive hobby," he added. Wild denied reports claiming Bernard Arnault, CEO of the LVMH luxury goods conglomerate and France's richest man, was interested in adding the rugby club to Paris FC, the football club he owns. Advertisement "We have interested people, but they need money," Wild said. "It depends on who it is. You have to be flexible. For next season, Wild, who was present for eight games this campaign, admitted the goal was qualifying for the Champions Cup. There will be changes in Gustard's coaching staff, with ex-France scrum-half Rory Kockott and former England prop Perry Freshwater arriving as his assistants. On the playing squad, they have been strongly linked by the rugby press with former New Zealand scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow and French prop Thierry Paiva, both at La Rochelle, as they look to avoid a repeat of this season's calamity. Advertisement "If we had signed someone, we're not going to talk about it, yet," Wild said. "Most of the names in the press are wrong. "Whatever you read is all talk, by an agent," he added. Whoever comes in will need to settle quickly if Gustard is to restore Stade Francais to the top end of French rugby. iwd/bsp/pb
BBC News
29-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Joel Le Scouarnec: Prolific French paedophile's sentence leaves victims appalled
The victims of prolific French paedophile Joel Le Scouarnec have expressed their dismay that the former surgeon's 20-year prison sentence does not include preventive detention - meaning he could be released from jail in the early 74-year-old was found guilty on Tuesday of sexually abusing hundreds of people, most of them underage patients of his, over decades. Over the course of the trial he had confessed to committing 111 rapes crimes and 188 sexual assaults, and was sentenced to the maximum of 20 years in jail. Prosecutors - who dubbed Le Scouarnec "a devil in a white coat" - had asked the court to take the extremely rare provision to hold him in a centre for treatment and supervision even after release, called preventative detention. But the judge rejected this demand, arguing Le Scouarnec's age and his "desire to make amends" had been taken into Scouarnec will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before being eligible for parole. But because he has already served seven years due to a previous conviction for the rape and sexual assault of four children, he may be eligible for parole by lawyer, Maxime Tessier, pointed out that saying Le Scouarnec could be released then was "inaccurate", as parole is not tantamout a his victims - many of whom assiduously attended the three-month-long trial in Vannes, northern France - are lamenting the sentence. "For a robbery you risk 30 years. But the punishment for hundreds of child rapes is lighter?" one victim told Le Monde. The president of a child advocacy group, Solène Podevin Favre, said that she might have expected the verdict "to be less lenient" and to include a post-sentence preventative detention."It's the maximum sentence, certainly," she said. "But it's the least we could have hoped for. Yet in six years, he could potentially be released. It's staggering."Marie Grimaud, one of the lawyers representing the victims, told reporters that while she "intellectually" understood the verdict, "symbolically" she could not. Another lawyer, Francesca Satta, said that she felt 20 years was too short a time given the number of victims in the case. "It is time for the law to change so we can have more appropriate sentences," she in her judgement read out to the court, Judge Aude Burési said that, while the court had "heard perfectly the demands from the plaintiffs that Le Scouarnec should never be released from jail, it would be demagogic and fanciful to let them believe that would be possible"."In fact," she added, "the rule of law does not allow for that to happen."One of Le Scouarnec's victims, Amélie Lévêque, said the verdict had "shocked" her and that she would have liked preventative detention to be imposed. "How many victims would it take? A thousand?"She argued that French law needed to change and allow for harsher sentences to take into account the serial nature of crimes. Similar complaints were raised in the aftermath of the Pelicot trial last December, in which Dominique Pelicot was found guilty of drugging and raping his wife, Gisèle, and recruited dozens of men to abuse her over almost a decade. Pelicot, too, was sentenced to 20 years - the maximum sentence for rape in French law - with the obligation to serve a minimum of two-thirds in case, however, will have to be re-examined at the end of the prison sentence before the question of preventative detention can be explored. In France, sentences are not served consecutively. Public prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger noted last week that had Le Scouarnec been on trial in the US - where people serve one prison sentence after another - he may have faced a sentence of over 4,000 years. But Cécile de Oliveira, one of the victims' lawyers, praised the sentence, which she said had been "finely tailored" to Le Scouarnec's "psychiatric condition". She agreed with the court's decision not to impose preventative detention on the former surgeon, adding: "It needs to remain an entirely exceptional punishment."After the verdict was read out, victims, journalists and lawyers mingled outside the courthouse in Vannes. Many of the civil parties and their relatives, angered by the verdict, brought their frustration to the media. "All that I ask for is that this man cannot offend again," the mother of a victim told French outlets. "If this kind of behaviour needs to entail a life sentence, so be it."
