A COACH company boss insisted last night that passengers have never been put at risk after his brother was jailed for historic child sex offences.

Malcolm Garnett felt the need to speak out after hearing negative comments about his family’s business - Garnetts Coaches, which is based in Bishop Auckland.

His eldest brother, 58-year-old Leonard Garnett, is this week starting a six-year jail term after being convicted of serious sexual offences dating back three decades.

Malcolm Garnett stressed his brother did not have a high-profile job in the business, adding: “He had nothing to do with the running of the business, he basically took telephone calls from people wanting to book seats on coach trips. He never had any contact with the customers or anything to do with child protection. People think he was driving for us and that just isn’t true.”

He said: “Leonard only joined the company about two years ago. To be fair, I didn’t want him to come, as we have never got on, but my Mum, who is the owner, gave him a job."

Mr Garnett, who also has three other brothers and a sister, said he was not aware of any criminal charges against Leonard until the penultimate court case and it was on hearing this news Leonard was asked to leave the business.

He said: “When I heard about it, I didn’t know what to think. To be quite honest, I believe the truth will always come out.”

In addition to the prison sentence, Leonard Garnett, of Wear Terrace, Bishop Auckland, was also made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, which bans him from having unsupervised contact with under-16s for the rest of his life.

His brother added: “People don’t need to be alarmed. He had nothing to do with the running of the company. I can assure people I never knew what is going on.

“We are a company which employs more than 50 people. We are not a small operation, we have been running for years and have built up a very smooth and respected business.

“It is devastating that a member of the family has done something like this.”