Paedophile coach linked to 4 suicides – including Gary Speed
‘Breaking down on the phone’
FORMER Wales football manager Gary Speed was one of four men who went on to take their lives after being coached by a convicted paedophile, a court heard yesterday.
Barry Bennell is on trial for molesting youngsters in changing rooms, his car and his home over more than a decade.
Yesterday a victim who Bennell has admitted abusing told how he tried to contact the parents of former Everton and Newcastle United star Speed after he hanged himself in 2011 aged 42.
He told the jury at Liverpool Crown Court: ‘Four people from teams I have played with, with Bennell, have taken their own lives.
‘Whether they have taken their lives due to Barry solely I don’t know but all I know is how it’s had an impact on me and how it could impact on other people.’
Bennell was jailed for nine years in 1998 after he admitted abusing the man.
The victim said he wanted to get in touch with Speed’s parents after reading in a newspaper that they had not been able to get closure because they had no explanation for his death.
Of contacting other alleged victims of Bennell, he said: ‘ When people are breaking down on the phone, on the verge of suicide, when you hear of people who have taken their own lives...’
Speed, a father of two who also played for Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield United in addition to being capped 85 times by Wales, was found hanged in the garage of his Cheshire home. Lawyers acting for his widow Louise a statement have previously saying he was put not out one of Bennell’s victims.
In 2016 Speed’s father Roger said: ‘Gary wouldn’t have it. Honestly, no way. He was old enough in the head even at that age he knew what he wanted. He was a clever lad.’
Bennell, 64, who worked as a coach for various youth teams including Crewe Alexandra’s, denies 48 offences of child sexual abuse against 11 complainants between 1979 and 1990.
The victim told the court he knew of former youth players who had been left ‘destitute’ and with alcohol problems.
Asked about claiming compensation, he told the court: ‘For me, it’s about justice. I’m sick to death of this being part of my life and I just want to put it to bed once and for all.’ The court also heard from a complainant in a civil case against Manchester City, who believes the club’s chief scout Ken Barnes had known about the abuse. The victim, against whom Bennell has admitted one count of indecent assault, said he played for one of the junior Manchester City teams and was abused by Bennell more than 100 times over a four-year period.
The court heard he thought Mr Barnes, who played for the club from 1950 to 1961 and died in 2010, and Mike Grimsley, who managed a City youth team, had known about the abuse carried out by Bennell.
Asked by Eleanor Laws QC, defending, if he was seeking compensation from the club, the victim said: ‘I have indeed spoken to a specialist child sexual abuse lawyer because I want assistance in getting an apology from Manchester City, and also for them to help me investigate ... I want an apology off Manchester City and anyone else, if possible.’
Pressed further on compensation, he said: ‘If you think I am going to talk about being raped over 100 times, put myself through two-and-a-half years of this for damages, you are wrong.’ He denied speaking to other alleged victims about seeking compensation. ‘ We don’t discuss that, it’s more a support,’ he said. ‘It’s almost like a suicide watch.’
Bennell is a convicted paedophile who has already served prison sentences in England and the US for abusing boys that he coached. He has since changed his name to Richard Jones and is appearing in court via video-link due to illness.
The case continues.