This Morning’s Gyles Brandreth sparks outrage with comments about child rapists at Olympics

Viewers have called for Gyles Brandreth to be axed from This Morning following his comments about Steven van de Velde.

The 29-year-old athlete was chosen to represent the Netherlands in beach volleyball despite his rape conviction, prompting sports fans and even competitors to speak out against his participation.

Steven van de Velde was found guilty of raping a girl in a flat in Milton Keynes ten years ago. The then 19-year-old had met her on Facebook and travelled to the UK. The police became aware of the rape after his victim went to a family planning clinic to look for the morning-after pill.

In 2016, he was sentenced to four years in prison at Aylesbury Crown Court after pleading guilty to three counts of rape, and served a year in a Dutch prison before his release – a particularly “lenient” sentence that shocked Dermot O’Leary, Rochelle Humes and Camilla Tominey.

Loose Women’s Denise Welch was one of the TV stars to raise the alarm, but a familiar face on the ITV breakfast magazine suggested the Olympic athlete may have been vindicated, sparking a fierce reaction on social media.

Gyles infuriated many viewers when he said: “Let’s put that aside for a moment. We don’t know why the sentence was so lenient. It was reduced to 13 months by a court. So the point of a trial is for serious people like the judges to assess this and come to a conclusion.”

He added: “So the assumption is that this was the right thing to do. He served his sentence. And when people serve their sentence, do we give them a fresh start? Do we say, ‘You’re getting out now, this is your chance. You’ve served your sentence. Now you can rebuild your life. We want you to rebuild your life.'”

And when Camilla admitted that she had “drawn the line” at violent crime, Gyles asked: “So you’re off limits forever, aren’t you?”

Numerous TV fans flocked to X, also known as Twitter, to challenge him. One wrote: “What is Gyles thinking?!” Another added: “Oscar Pistorius might as well be brought back for the Paralympics,” in reference to the 2013 murder of Reeva Steenkamp. The former professional sprinter served nearly nine years of his 13-year, five-month prison sentence before being released on parole.

Another commented: “Sex offenders are on a register for a reason as they are likely to reoffend. Gyles please do your research.” A fourth added: “Why does Giles carry on with this? Very strange.”

“Gyles!! No, no, no!! A child molester??!!! He should NOT be there!!,” shouted a fifth viewer. Another pleaded: “Get Giles off the telly, he’s an old, naive idiot who just sympathized with a child molester.”

Earlier on Sunday, the Dutch Olympic Committee claimed that Steven van de Velde had been successfully rehabilitated and stressed that he deserved his place in the Dutch team. Rape Crisis England & Wales, however, described his inclusion as “shocking”.

Stevens’ debut at the 2024 Olympics alongside his volleyball partner Matthew Immers was met with audible boos from the crowd and his dream ended abruptly when he lost his Olympic beach volleyball match against Italy.

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