Crewe scrap Bennell inquiry

CREWE ALEXANDRA have abandoned plans to launch their own inquiry into convicted paedophile Barry Bennell’s offending during his two spells at the club. The League Two side insisted again yesterday that neither they nor former boss Dario Gradi knew about Bennell’s abuse until he was jailed in 1994. Crewe said a police investigation found ‘there was no evidence to corroborate that anyone at the club was aware of Mr Bennell’s offending’, including chairman John Bowler and Gradi, adding that Bennell was sacked in 1992 for ‘football-related reasons’. Bennell was sentenced to 31 years in prison last month after being convicted of abusing 12 boys aged eight to 15 between 1979 and 1991. Former Peterborough United and Cambridge United coach Kit Carson has been charged with child sex offences against 11 boys. The 74-year-old, who also worked at Norwich City, is accused of 11 counts of indecent assault and one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity between 1978 and 2009.