Civil action threat hangs over Gradi
DARIO GRADI could face civil action if he hindered attempts to bring sex offenders Barry Bennell and eddie Heath to justice.
Sportsmail understands that Gradi is at the centre of a QC-led Chelsea abuse investigation, as well as an independent inquiry set up by the FA into historic crimes. Both are investigating allegations that the Crewe Alexandra director of football tried to ‘smooth over’ a complaint of sexual assault against Heath, Chelsea’s former chief scout, in 1974. The QCs heading the inquiries — Charles Geekie for Chelsea and Clive Sheldon for the independent inquiry — both want to interview Gradi. They have now received detailed testimony from the former Chelsea youth player who claims Gradi arrived at his parents’ house to ask them to drop an allegation the coach had sexually abused him. Gradi was welcomed into the 15-year-old’s home and offered tea and cake, but allegedly then urged the boy’s parents to forget the complaint about Heath — claiming football was the coach’s life and he ‘gets a bit close to the boys’. No action was taken against Heath, who left the club in 1979. He is thought to have died in 1987 or 1988. Gradi, 76, has said of the victim’s allegation: ‘Aside from denying any wrongdoing, it would be inappropriate and unfair on all parties to comment piecemeal through the media.’ Criminal charges cannot be brought against individuals who might have known about abuse and did not raise the alarm, even if further assaults occur as a result. But the burden of proof in a civil case is far lower. The problem for any litigant in pursuing a case against Gradi could be his ability to pay. Lawyers representing families are more inclined to pursue clubs, as they have far greater resources.
Sportsmail has revealed in the last six days that Gradi is facing two claims he showed pornography to schoolboys at his home in Crewe. A first witness has given a statement to an FA safeguarding officer. A second has disclosed he had the same experience. when Cheshire Police began investigating serial child abuser Bennell in 1995, after his imprisonment in America, Gradi welcomed them into his office at Crewe’s Gresty road and made them tea. As they began the complex task of mapping the location of individuals Bennell might have abused, the officers found Gradi and Crewe more helpful than the FA, whose poor record-keeping made them of little use in knowing where Bennell’s players might have moved. Officers on the first Bennell inquiry asked every player they interviewed about Gradi. There were no allegations of abuse. In 1995, Gradi told officers he did not believe Bennell’s claim that he had pleaded guilty to five child abuse charges in America simply to limit his time behind bars. But Sportsmail has revealed how, when Bennell’s family sought references from Gradi to convince the court in Jacksonville that the coach was of good character, he provided a glowing testimony. He cited Bennell’s ‘great ability to communicate with kids’ and added: ‘Not once... have I received a complaint from a boy or his parents of a sexual nature.’ The Heath incident has echoes of Bennell’s
modus operandi. The victim had been a player at Chelsea for two seasons when Heath began touching him inappropriately. This led the player to tell his parents about Heath’s behaviour and they immediately telephoned Chelsea to report it. The victim said that days afterwards Gradi arrived on the doorstep to talk them out of complaining.