Police are investigating claims that some of the country’s most notorious predators worked together in a paedophile network which preyed on young footballers.Earlier this week the Independent Review into Sexual Abuse Within Scottish Football confirmed that it had received “substantive” new evidence
www.thetimes.co.uk
Police are investigating claims that some of the country’s most notorious predators worked together in a paedophile network which preyed on young footballers.
Earlier this week the Independent Review into Sexual Abuse Within Scottish Football confirmed that it had received “substantive” new evidence of an organised cross-border abuse ring.
It came after The Times published allegationsthat Barry Bennell, a former scout with Manchester City and Crewe Alexandra, and Jim McCafferty, a former Celtic kitman and boy’s club coach, were part of a group that trafficked young players.
Bennell, 66, described by a judge as the “devil incarnate” is serving a 31-year sentence for 50 charges of child sex abuse, while McCafferty, 74,
was jailed last year for molesting young players over 24 years.
One survivor, Malcolm Rodger has waived his right of anonymity to claim that he was a
bused separately by McCafferty and Bennell after being introduced to them by Bill Kelly, his former coach at the now defunct West Lothian club Uphall Saints. Kelly, 84, admitted abusing 12 boys over a 22 year period but served just a year in prison when he was sentenced in 1987.
Police Scotland confirmed it was investigating and that inquiries were “at an early stage”. Detective Chief Inspector Laura Carnochan, head of the force’s national child abuse investigation unit, said: “We would like to assure anyone who has been a victim of child abuse, or knows of someone who has been a victim, that if they wish to report we will listen and we will investigate, and will take prompt action to ensure that no one else is at risk of harm.”
Mr Rodger, 49, from Glasgow, a decorated former serviceman who served in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and the first Gulf War, was subjected to two years of abuse in the 1980s after attending games, trials and tournaments in Scotland, England and Spain.
He said that Kelly and McCafferty, whom he recognised as the trainer of the neighbouring club Fauldhouse United, abused him together many times. Mr Rodger accompanied Kelly on a trip to Blackpool where he was introduced to Bennell.
He recalled: “Kelly told me he was lead scout for Crewe and his name was Barry Bennell. He said that if I showed my ‘appreciation’ then he could open doors and get me noticed.”
Mr Rodger, who has welcomed the police investigation, alleges he was assaulted by both men again at a youth football tournament in Spain. “Kelly introduced me to Bennell for a second time and basically stood and watched guard as he abused me,” he said.
Martin Henry, chairman of the independent review, confirmed his inquiry had heard accounts suggesting that prominent abusers in Scotland and England had been working together. “These have been passed to the English FA inquiry and they’ve also been reported to the police,” he said.
Kelly, a long serving secretary of the West Lothian Association of Youth Football Clubs, denies having any connection with Bennell or McCafferty.
The Scottish FA said it was awaiting the findings of the independent review