Multi- Paralympic champion Tanni Grey-Thompson has said it is ‘massively important’ to change the legislation around sports coaches entering into sexual relationships with their teenage athletes.

She has joined the call for the ‘loophole’ in the Sexual Offences Act to be changed.

Current legislation only has professions such as teachers under the list of positions of trust. This means the age of consent for the people in their care increases from 16 to 18 and Grey-Thompson wants sports coaches added to the list.

She said: "It's been a source of frustration, the slow movement, and that's maybe a lack of understanding of the specific case in sport where your route through is so limited.

"It's difficult because there will be a number of consensual relationships in sport, because how do you meet people? However, there will be a number of relationships which are groomed and encouraged and might start the day after the young athlete's 16th birthday. 

"To me there's a huge sense of worry. We need the legislation to protect young athletes, to make sure that they are not mistreated during their time in sport."

A BBC investigation revealed more than 160 coaches had entered into a sexual relationship with their 16-17 year-old athletes since 2016 in England and Wales.

Governing bodies within sport ban the relationships but they are not currently illegal.

Grey-Thompson, who is a member of the House of Lords, wrote a Duty of Care in Sport report in 2017. The same year the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport decided to change the law.

However, it was placed under review before the law was changed and has been ongoing ever since.

The Ministry of Justice has said it will set out plans for the legislation in ‘due course’.