(Updated 15 Dec 2016)
As an increasing number of ex-professional footballers disclose that they were abused as children whilst training with professional footballing youth clubs, I’ve put together an A-Z list of those named and shamed sexual predators, plus a few mysteries.
The quick-evolving stories of abuse of children in sport is definitely one to keep watching as I think it is going to be huge. In fact, I KNOW that connections reach further than just the sporting world. Some of these kids were procured through the training system and abused not just by coaches, trainers and staff, but passed around to others.
If you or someone you know was abused whilst in a youth team, please either contact your local police (there are already many different forces investigating allegations) or contact the new charity set up by whistleblowers: The Offside Trust
As of 9 December 2016 and in connection with the football abuse emerging story:
- 83 potential suspects have been identified;
- 98 clubs (at all levels) are involved;
- 98% of complainants are male;
- The ages range between 7-20 years old;
- A helpline set up by NSPCC received 860 calls within first three days;
- The FA have launched an investigation led by Clive Sheldon QC.
Sporting Hall of Shame
MICHAEL AIRD – Football – Under-14s Coach – Hillwood Boy’s Club – Pollock, Glasgow: Found guilty in 2015, unknown sentence LINK
BOB ALLAN – Football – Youth Development Officer – Motherwell FC, 1997: LINK
MARK BAKER – Football – Secretary of Youth Football Club – Llanrumny, Cardiff – Jailed for 8 years in 2001 LINK
RAY BARNES – Football – Former FA chief – Was involved in the investigation in to Bob Higgins’ conduct was himself convicted of the abuse of three boys. LINK
BARRY BENNELL – Football – Youth Coach – Crewe Alexander, Manchester City, Stoke City, Leeds United, Butlins in North Wales & Derbyshire children’s home, coached teams in Manchester, Derbyshire, Staffordshire & Cheshire – Found guilty of child sexual abuse in America in 1994 and also a number of convictions in UK. (AKA Richard Jones). Good friend of Gordon Neely. LINK (Please see further information below about Bennell’s time at Crew).
ANDREW BOECKMAN/PICARD – Found guilty in 2016 of downloading images of child sexual abuse whilst a student at Eton. Subsequently sacked by both the USA swimming organisation and the Amateur Swimming Association of Great Britain. Received a lenient sentence. Father is a top lawyer in the city. LINK
JOHN BUTCHER – Football – Millwall, Chelsea, Wimbledon, Cobham FC – secretary and scout for youth teams: Was still working with youth teams 11 years after his first conviction for abusing children. The FA have permanently suspended him from football.
FRANK CAIRNEY – Football – Celtic Boy’s Club – Appeared in court alongside Jim Torbett accused of CSA of youth players in 1998. LINK
ROY CLARKE – Swimming – Swimming Instructor – Leicester – Jailed for 12 years in 2006 after admitting abusing children over a 53 year period. LINK
JOHN CULLEN – Football – Photographer for Celtic’s official magazine – Convicted in 2004 after a bag of 250 pictures of boys in various stages of undress were found. He had taken them all at his home. He was allowed to walk free from court. LINK
MARK DAVIES – Swimming – Marlborough College – Brother of former swimmer, Sharron. Cautioned by Wiltshire Police following a number of indecent pictures found on his computer at the college in 2003. LINK
ALAN DELANEY – Football – Twickenham, Hounslow – Part of the Colin Peters paedophile ring convicted in 1989. Procured boys through local youth teams.
MIKE DREW – Swimming – Convicted in 2001 for offences spanning 25 years. LINK
MIKE EDGE – Diving – British Olympic Diving Coach – Sheffield: Jailed for 8 months for abuse. LINK
DAVID FALCON-STEWARD – Fencing – coach: Member number 132 of Paeophile Information Exchange. Used The Royal Wolverhampton School to receive PIE literature. LINK
BILLY FRANKS – Football – Craigmillar Youth Team – Edinburgh: Found guilty in 2003 LINK
CHRIS GIELER – Football – Chief Scout & Head of youth recruitment – QPR: Worked at QPR for 30 years. Known among kids as an abuser. Allowed boys to stay over at his home in Hillingdon. Mentioned within the Elm Guest House paperwork. LINK
KEN HALL – Athletics – Junior Sports Coach – Aboyne, Aberdeenshire: Found guilty in 2005 LINK
JOHN HART – Football – Physiotherapist – Partick Thistle, Fir Park Club: Dismissed in 1992 over allegations of abuse. LINK
EDDIE HEATH – Football – Chief Scout – Chelsea FC Youth Team: Chelsea FC paid £50,000 hush money in 2015. Dario Gradi was suspended from his post at Crewe in December 2016 over claims he ‘smoothed’ over claims of abuse against Heath whilst at Chelsea. Gradi also took two boys on a boating holiday to Wittering in West Sussex (although there is no allegations of any impropriety). LINK LINK
PAUL HICKSON – Swimming – Britain’s Olympic Swimming Coach – Norwich, University College Swansea, Somerset – Jailed for 17 years in 1995 for abusing girls. LINK
BOB HIGGINS – Football – Youth Development Officer – Southampton FC, Malta FA: At the centre of a number of allegations by former youth team players of sexual abuse whilst at Southampton FC (as of 5/12/2016). Despite being at the centre of abuse allegations in 1992, he still remained working in football at Fleet Town FC up till recently. LINK Malta allegations: LINK
CALLUM JAMIESON – Football – Everton FC Youth Coach – Jailed in 2015 LINK
DAVID KING – Football – Montagu & North Fensham Youth Club – Associate of George Ormond. Headteacher but convicted of abuse against a 10 year old boy in 1997. LINK
JIM MCCAFFERTY – Football – Youth coach & kit man – Celtic, Falkirk & Hibernian – Arrested by police in Northern Ireland (where he now lives) in connection with allegations of abuse. LINK
JOSEPH (JOE) MILLS – Gymnastics – Youth Coach – Ayrshire – Jailed for 7 years in 2004 for child sexual abuse. LINK
GORDON NEELY – Football – Youth coach – Hibs, Rangers, Hutchinson Vale, Edinburgh, 1980s-1990. Sacked by Graeme Souness in 1986 following allegations of abuse but no criminal investigation was undertaken. Good friend of Barry Bennell. LINK
WILLIAM O’KANE – Football & Boxing Coach – Wembley – Accused of assaulting a 9 year old boy. Killed by vigilantes in 2000. LINK
GEORGE ORMOND – Football – Youth Coach – NE England, Newcastle, Montagu & North Fenham Boys Team – Jailed in 2002 for child sexual abuse over a 24 year period. LINK
MATTHEW PEDRAZZINI – Olympics, Swimming – Chief Swimming Coach for Birmingham City Council – Jailed for 15 months in 2002 after being found guilty of abusing a 15 year old girl. LINK
ALEXANDER ‘SANDY’ PENMAN – Football – Master of Ceremonies for boys clubs & football teams – Balgreen, Edinburgh – Found guilty in 2013. LINK
ANDREW PICARD – (See Boeckman)
GRAHAM RIX – Football – Chelsea FC Coach – Richmond, Chelsea, Arsenal – Found guilty of child sexual abuse in 1999 LINK
FRANK ROPER – Football – Football Scout – 1970s-80s NW England with close ties to Blackpool FC. Friend of a notorious paeophile and member of an alleged paedophile ring. LINK
HUGH STEVENSON – Football – Youth Coach & Assistant Referee, Eastercraigs Boys’ Club, Chelsea Boys’ Club in Glasgow, Ferguslie Utd & others in Glasgow and Renfrewshire: Despite a few sackings, investigations and known inappropriate behaviour during 1980s, he was still coaching in 1990s. Allegations ignored by officials. LINK
PHIL TAYLOR – Darts – Fined £2,000 in 2001 after being found guilty of assaulting two women in his motorhome. He subsequently lost his MBE. LINK
JIM TORBETT – Football – Boys club founder – Celtic, Norway. Found guilty of abusing three boys in 1998. LINK Appeared in court alongside Frank Cairney. LINK
Victims
- Ian Ackley – LINK
- Derek Bell – LINK
- Alan Brazil – LINK
- Russell Davy – LINK
- Jason Dunsford – LINK
- David Eatock – LINK
- Jamie Forrester – LINK
- David Gordon – LINK
- Pete Haynes – LINK
- Anthony Hughes – LINK
- Gary Johnson – LINK
- David Lean – LINK
- Matt Le Tissier – LINK
- Gerry McAleer – LINK
- John McClusky – LINK
- James McGrory – LINK
- Matthew Monaghan – LINK
- Dean Radford – LINK
- Derek Richardson – LINK
- Billy Seymour – LINK
- Paul Stewart – LINK
- John Taylor – LINK
- Chris Unsworth – LINK
- Steve Walters – LINK
- Jamie Webb – LINK
- Mark Williams – LINK
- David White – LINK
- Andy Woodward – LINK
Crew Alexander & Bennell
On 27th November 2016 who was on the board at Crewe Alexander told The Guardian that in the late 1980s Bennell was the subject of a boardroom discussion about his abuse of a youth team member. The Chairman, Norman Rowlinson, recommended removing Bennell because of growing suspicions about his behaviour.
According to Smith, Rowlinson was so disgusted by the revelation that he asked the vice-chairman, John Bowler, to instruct the manager, Dario Gradi, to find a new youth team coach. However, an agreement was reached to allow Bennell to remain at the club but he must not be left unaccompanied whilst with children. Despite that, Bennell took another team on tour in America and he was eventually arrested in Florida in 1992 on charges of sexual abuse of a minor.
Gradi has stated publicly that he did not have a problem with Bennell.
Upon leaving the club, Smith was still so concerned about Bennell that he told Crewe MP, Gwyneth Dunwoody about the matter. In 2001 he also requested to meet FA’s head of education and child protection, Tony Pickerin, but all requests were ignored by the FA. Instead they wrote a letter to Smith stating:
…. they had investigated the issues and are satisfied that there is no case to answer.
It has since been alleged that Gradi smoothed over allegations against Eddie Heath at Chelsea FC in 1974 and is therefore among the first to be targeted by the new inquiry. LINK He has today been suspended pending investigations: LINK
Police forces currently investigating football abuse allegations:
- Avon & Somerset Police
- Cambridgeshire Police
- Cheshire Police
- Derbyshire Constabulary
- Devon & Cornwall Police
- Dorset Police
- Dyfed Powys Police
- Essex Police
- Greater Manchester Police
- Hampshire Police
- Kent Police
- Metropolitan Police
- Norfolk Police
- Northumbria Police
- North Wales Police
- North Yorkshire Police
- Police Scotland
- Police Service of Northern Ireland
- Scotland Yard
- South Wales Police
- Staffordshire Police
- Warwickshire Police
- West Midlands Police
Football teams named in connection with abuse:
- Blackpool FC – LINK
- Celtic FC – LINK
- Charlton Athletic – LINK
- Chelsea FC
- Crewe Alexandra FC – LINK
- Leeds United – LINK
- Leyton Orient
- Manchester City FC – LINK
- Motherwell FC – LINK
- Partick Thistle – LINK
- Southampton FC – LINK
Lest we forget
Those potential victims who never made it this far:
At the inquest in 2012 into the death of Gary Speed, it was alleged that Speed and former Manchester United player Alan Davies had been “favourites” of Bennell, though there was no suggestion they had been abused by Bennell.[31] Both players later took their own lives.
Further reading:
scepticpeg 
Paedophile Andrew Picard Boeckman’s father, Philip Boeckman, seems to be close to the Churchill/Soames family
(Nicholas Soames is good friends with Prince Charles.)
From page 26 of the 2011 Churchill Museum Magazine, The Churchillian:
…our reception with Lady Mary Soames. Held at the home of Westminster alum, Philip Boeckman and his lovely wife Erin. within yards of Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament…
Click to access 2011%20Fall%20Churchillian.pdf
and now in 2017, Philip Boeckman is a trustee of the International Churchill Society
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/about/whos-who/board-of-trustees
Honorary members include David Cameron and Michael Heseltine.
LikeLike
Thanks for this. Looks as if I have a bit of an update to do!
LikeLike