Larry Nassar: Thousands raised for father who charged at paedophile doctor jailed for abusing his gymnast daughters

'We will work to ensure the funds collected will go to a good cause to help victims of sexual abuse'

Tens of thousands of dollars have been raised in the name of a distraught father who tried to attack paedophile former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, after he was jailed for sexually assaulted the man's three daughters.

Randall Margraves tried to grab Nassar while one of his daughters, Madison Margraves, was addressing the court during the latest hearing in Michigan.

Moments earlier, Mr Margraves had asked the judge to give him "five minutes in a locked room" with the ex-doctor, who he described as a "demon".

When the judge told him that was not possible, he ran at Nassar before being restrained by security staff.

More than 700 donors had pledged around $25,000 (£17,700) to Mr Margraves after a GoFundMe page was created by his co-worker, Aaron Pangborn.

The page was originally launched to cover any legal faces potentially incurred by Mr Margraves for his attempted attack on Nassar, but since he has not been charged the money is instead intended to go to help victims of sexual assault.

"I will work with [Mr Margraves] and his family to ensure the funds collected will go to a good cause to help victims of sexual abuse," Mr Pangborn wrote.

Mr Margraves' attempted attack came after dozens of young women, including his daughters, delivered impact statements to the latest of several courts to punish the former celebrated doctor, who abused young women and girls over a 20-year period.

Last month, Nassar was sentenced to 175 years in prison when he appeared before Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina.

The judge told Nassar he would never leave jail, adding she had effectively signed his death warrant.

Mr Margraves was detained for a possible contempt of court proceeding following the attempted attack, but later apologised to the court, saying he launched the attack because he did not know beforehand what his daughters were going to say.

"I lost control. I apologise a hundred times," he told the court. "I'm definitely calmed down. I'm embarrassed. I'm not here to upstage my daughters. I'm here to help them heal."

The judge agreed to release him without any further punishment due to the "circumstances of [the] case".

After being praised for his actions on social media, Mr Margraves told reporters he wanted to make it clear that he was not a hero.

"My daughters are the heroes, and [so are] the victims and the survivors of this terrible atrocity," he said.

Hollywood actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was one of many who commented on Mr Margraves' incident, writing on Twitter: "We all understand this father's action.

"Nassar's punishment will go far beyond sentencing.

"Behind bars, he'll soon know what hell means. He'll be well taken care of."

Nassar was accused of molesting more than 250 underage girls dating back as far as 1992, and has admitted to at least 10 of the accusations.

In July 2017 he was sentenced to 60 years after pleading guilty to child pornography charges, and on 24 January he was sentenced to 40 to 175 years for his sexual assault of minors.