Ex-elite swimming coach facing multiple child sex abuse charges DIES in jail awaiting trial

A former elite swim coach has died in custody after being charged with multiple landmark child abuse crimes.

John Reginald Wright, 79, was arrested in October 2021 after police alleged he was indecent with children several times between 1980 and 1986 in the Brisbane and Rockhampton areas.

Wright trained elite swimmers across Australia and abroad for decades, including in Britain.

He was initially charged in Western Australia on nine counts of indecent child abuse and one count of habitual assault, and later extradited to Brisbane.

He was later charged with 20 more offenses after more alleged victims came forward.

Queensland Corrective Services have confirmed that an inmate died last night at the Princess Alexandra Hospital Secure Unit in Brisbane.

It was alleged that Wright assaulted up to five boys at the Chandler Swimming Pool in Brisbane in the mid-1980s.

Former Olympian Shane Lewis told Swimming Australia in 2016 that he had been sexually abused by Wright between the ages of 11 and 13 in Brisbane, as reported by the ABC.

Lewis died in February 2021 while his family believed he committed suicide.

Another swimmer, Paul Shearer, claimed he had been abused by Wright on the Gold Coast in the 1980s. He also took his own life in 2020.

Colin Marshall, a former junior national champion, also described how Wright physically assaulted him as a 14-year-old.

Wright also trained swimmers in South Africa and ran the famous Kingston Royals Swimming Club in England.

His first scheduled court hearing in October last year was canceled after he was taken to hospital with chest pains.