Paedophile football coach Barry Bennell convicted of a total of 43 counts of child sex abuse
Paedophile football coach Barry Bennell raped and assaulted at least 115 young boys in his care it emerged yesterday, as he faced spending the rest of his life behind bars.
Bennell was convicted of a total of 43 counts of child sex abuse against 11 victims after a jury at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday found him guilty of seven more counts.
Before the trial started he had pleaded guilty to seven counts of indecent assault involving a 12th boy.
It is now understood that 86 new victims have come forward since the start of the latest investigation.
Victims groups have urged police to bring a new set of prosecutions against Bennell to ensure all those who suffered at his hands receive justice.
During the trial Bennell, who worked for a string of clubs, including Stoke City, Crewe Alexander and Manchester City, was described as a “child molester on an industrial scale", who used the promise of making children football stars to groom them and then stop them speaking out.
Several of his victims are now preparing to sue clubs where the youth coach worked for what could be millions of pounds in compensation.
The 64-year-old had previously been sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to 23 counts of sex abuse against 15 children aged nine to 14 between 1978 and 1992.
That followed his conviction for sexual battery against a 13-year-old boy Staffordshire boy during a football tour of the United States. He was also sentenced to two years in May 2015 after pleading guilty to abusing a boy at a football camp in Macclesfield in 1990.
Victims today condemned what they described as the repeated missed chances to put a stop to his activities.
Bennell abused the boys at his homes, where he had installed arcade games and kept exotic pets, including a puma and a monkey, but also on trips away and in his car to and from training.
Former Crewe Alexandra player Steven Walters, who was one of those abused by Bunnell, hit out at the football establishment for caring more about the reputation of clubs than the safety of children.
He said: “For years, hundreds of us were groomed, in plain view. How can it be that no one realised something was wrong? How is it that no one protected us then? .
A cheer of "yes" came from the public gallery where six complainants sat with family members as the final verdicts were read out.
Bennell, who changed his name to Richard Jones and appeared via videolink from prison, shook his head and muttered when the final guilty verdicts were returned. He will be sentenced on Monday.
In a police interview released by Cheshire Police he described himself as “a bit full of myself, I always thought I was brilliant."
Bennell told detectives he thought the oral cancer which left him needing to be fed through a tube, was "karma".
The Offside Trust, which represents victims of child sex abuse in football, said: “We hope that Bennell’s sentencing will reflect the anguish he has caused his victims and their loved ones.”
The group described the Bennell case as “the tip of the iceberg” and said that more than 800 other victims of abuse in football had so far reported their cases to the police.
Slater and Gordon solicitors, who represent several of Bennell’s victims, are preparing to sue the clubs where he worked for six figure compensation settlements.
But they warned that if it could be shown Bennell had wrecked their chances of pursuing lucrative career in football the sums could go even higher.
One victim told the court that Gary Speed, the former Wales manager who began his playing career with Leeds United as a trainee when he left school in June 1988, was one of four men coached by Bennell who went on to take their own lives.
But police assured Speed’s parents, and his wife Louise, that there was no evidence he had been one of his many victims.
Crewe Alexandra, where Bennell was employed for two periods between January 1985 and January 1992, said it wanted to express its "deepest sympathies" for Bennell's victims.
It said: "The club would like to reassure all those who have been affected by this case that the club has worked closely with the police throughout and provided full cooperation, transparency and assistance with their enquiries.
"The club will continue to provide that cooperation as and when required."
Crewe's statement went on to say that "it was not aware of any sexual abuse by Mr Bennell, nor did it receive any complaint about sexual abuse by him, either before or during his employment with the club".
Bennell's barrister, Eleanor Laws QC, described him as being a "sitting target" after being convicted of child sexual abuse in the 1990s and in 2015, issued a statement expressing "its deepest sympathies to the victims".
Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Clement Goldstone QC, praised the jury men of six men and five women for their service.
He said: "You have been, if I may say so, a credit to the jury system" and told them if they wished they could be excused from jury service for the next 15 years.
