Sportswriter David Walsh, who faced criticism for writing a court character reference for former Irish Times sports journalist Tom Humphries, has said he unequivocally condemns the "terrible wrong" his friend committed.
Walsh, a Sunday Times reporter famed for the role he played in exposing the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, also said he apologised unreservedly for "insensitive and ill-judged" comments he made about the Humphries case in a 2012 radio interview.
In a personal statement released through the Press Association, Mr Walsh insisted he would remain Humphries’s friend, despite Humphries’s 2½-year sentence for defiling and exploiting a girl aged under 17.
“As justice has now run its course, I want to say that I unequivocally condemn what Tom Humphries did and have every sympathy for the victim in the case,” he said.
“I have read her victim impact statement and have some sense of the terrible ordeal she has been through.”
Mr Walsh then made apparent reference to a 2012 interview on Today FM, aired only this month due to legal reasons, in which he described Humphries as a “great, great man”.
Asked to explain his praise, Mr Walsh told the presenter he knew a “damn sight more” about the case than most people.
‘Insensitive comments’
In his personal statement on Tuesday, Walsh said: “In a radio interview five years ago, I spoke about the case in a manner that was insensitive and ill-judged, I apologise unreservedly for that.
“In writing a character reference for Tom I was not in any way condoning the crime for which he has now been sentenced.
“I have been a friend of his for 30 years and since his arrest in 2011 I continued to be his friend because I believe a friend is there through thick and thin.
“Tom did a terrible wrong, for which he has now been given a custodial term.”
Mr Walsh wrote the character reference in a personal capacity and it had no link to The Sunday Times.
PA