Paedophiles in football ‘co-operated as a network’
Marc Horne
January 18 2020, 12:01am, The Times
Barry Bennell was given a 30-year sentence
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An investigation has been opened into claims that some of the country’s most notorious predators worked together in a paedophile network that preyed on young footballers.
A review commissioned by the Scottish FA will hear evidence next week that Barry Bennell, a former scout with Manchester City and Crewe Alexandra, and Jim McCafferty, a former Celtic kitman and boys’ club coach, were part of an organised cross-border abuse ring.
Bennell, 66, is serving a 30-year sentence for abusing boys on what was described as an “industrial scale”. McCafferty was jailed last year for molesting youngsters over a period of 24 years.
Harry Dunn, the former Rangers and Liverpool youth scout, died before he could stand trial over abuse charges in 2017
One survivor has presented fresh evidence, claiming he was abused separately by McCafferty and Bennell after being introduced to them by Bill Kelly, a former coach with the now defunct West Lothian team Uphall Saints.
Kelly, 84, was jailed for sexually assaulting at least 12 players at the club over a period of 22 years.
Another one of his victims claimed that Kelly was an associate of Harry Dunn, the former Rangers and Liverpool youth scout, who died before he could stand trial over abuse charges in 2017.
Malcolm, 48, from Glasgow, was subjected to two years of abuse in the mid-1980s after attending games, trials and tournaments in Scotland, England and Spain. He said: “I was abused by men who went on to be convicted of multiple offences, involving large numbers of victims, over exceptionally long periods of time. They were prolific, connected and worked together.
“I have no idea how this network of predatory paedophiles came into being or was put together, but it existed and it ruined countless young lives. Scottish FA executives need to sit in a room with myself and the other abuse victims, hear our statements, look us straight in the eye and see if they can continue to deny responsibility and liability.”
Jim McCafferty was jailed last yearPOLICE SCOTLAND
James, 62, from Lanarkshire, claims he was regularly taken to a health centre in Edinburgh city centre with other boys after they had been abused by Kelly in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He insists that Kelly, who served as secretary of the West Lothian Association of Youth Football Clubs, would take them to a sauna where he would introduce them to “friends”, including a referee, child protection officer and a man he now believes was Dunn.
James said: “You can’t help but think there was a definite interlinking and knowledge of what was going on by abusers. These guys knew each other and worked together.”
Their evidence will now form part of the Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football, whose final report will be published this year.
The Times understands it has already received evidence that McCafferty took youngsters from Glasgow to a tournament in the northwest of England where Bennell was in attendance.
Bennell was found guilty in February 2018 of 43 charges of historical child sexual abuse.
A junior football coach and youth scout, he boasted that he could find young star players for professional football clubs. He repeatedly abused boys while promising to further their careers and is serving his fourth prison sentence for child sexual abuse.
Once a youth player at Chelsea, Bennell is most closely associated with Crewe Alexandra, where he worked in the 1980s and 1990s. Bennell also ran summer holiday camps in the UK, often held at Butlin’s, youth football tours and “soccer camps” in the US and it was in there that his crimes first came to light.
In 1994, police in Jacksonville, Florida, charged him with sexually abusing a 13-year-old British boy on a tour. The trip reportedly involved young footballers aged 11 to 14.
According to a court report in the
Birmingham Mail at the time, Bennell was arrested after the boy returned home from a camp and told his parents he had been abused. Bennell was sentenced to four years in a US prison.
A source close to the Scottish FA review said that they would share the fresh evidence with counterparts at the English FA. They said: “Testimony which speaks to a connection between a high profile offender in Scotland and a very high profile offender in England would be included in our report.”
Manchester City confirmed its own internal abuse investigation had established that Bennell took youth teams to tournaments in Scotland.
The Scottish FA said it would be willing to meet both men, listen to their concerns and offer support.
A spokesman said: “The chief executive has issued a heartfelt apology on behalf of Scottish football to those with personal experience of sexual abuse in our national game. We acknowledge the very deep impact experiences of sexual abuse has had on many individuals and that is why we commissioned the independent review.”
Kelly denies having any connection with McCafferty, Bennell or Dunn.