‘Missing’ British athletics coach serving prison sentence in Morocco

A leading athletics coach and former sprint champion who was mysteriously absent from the European Championships has been jailed in Morocco for sexually assaulting a child.

Leon Baptiste travelled to the country a few months ago and his athletes, who include the 2024 European 400m silver medallist Charlie Dobson, have not heard from him since.

They are understood to have become concerned about the situation.

According to the BBC, a source at the Moroccan Ministry of Justice has now confirmed Baptiste was arrested in Marrakech in May, was subsequently convicted, and has since been serving a custodial sentence in Al-Oudaya prison.

The corporation said it found details of Baptiste’s conviction in online court records, adding that an original 10-month sentence had been reduced to eight months on appeal.

“In relation to the reports concerning the alleged ‘disappearance of Leon Baptiste’ – an English athletics coach reportedly missing in Morocco for more than two months under questionable circumstances – please note that the information published in this regard is inaccurate and does not reflect the facts of the case,” the source told the BBC.

“The foreign national concerned had not lost contact with his surroundings and was not subject to any disappearance or unexplained absence.

“He is currently being held at the local prison in Marrakech, where he is serving a custodial sentence following his conviction by the competent judicial authorities in connection with a misdemeanour case.”

The source added that Baptiste, 41, was “in good health”.

A spokesperson for the Morocco Public Prosecution Office confirmed the sentence and nature of the conviction, adding: “The British national is currently being held at the local prison in Marrakech, where he is serving a custodial sentence following a court judgment against him in connection with his involvement in a criminal case.”

In Morocco, a minor is deemed to be under 18.

Asked about Baptiste, a UK Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting a British national who is detained in Morocco and are in contact with the authorities.”

UK Athletics had declined to comment last week on Baptiste’s absence from the European Championships, citing confidentiality reasons.

But it is understood that performance staff, led by former gold medallist Martyn Rooney, have been supporting Dobson and his training partners in recent weeks.

Dobson said that it had been an “interesting eight weeks” after finishing fourth in his European Championships semi-final last Monday in a time of 45.18sec.

Baptiste has become a well-regarded coach after being forced to retire as an athlete aged 28 following surgery for a serious knee injury. He had turned from football to athletics after suffering a knee ligament injury as a 14-year-old.

Baptiste became the European junior champion in the 100m in 2004 and followed that in 2010 with Commonwealth Games gold in both the individual 200m and 4x100m relay in Delhi. He missed London 2012, however, because of injury.

He helped guide Dobson to the podium at the European Championships in Rome two years ago as well as Olympic Games and World Championship bronze in the relay events.

Dobson withdrew from the Commonwealth Games and, before his run last Tuesday, had not raced since June following injury.