Footie paedo jailed after he confesses to Mirror
A FORMER youth coach at Celtic FC has been jailed for sexually abusing a teenager.
Jim McCafferty, 72, first confessed to his crimes after being confronted by Daily Mirror journalist Jilly Beattie.
He pleaded guilty earlier this year to committing eight offences against the boy over three years when he was 14 to 16 years old.
McCafferty was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison yesterday. Judge Patricia Smyth told him: “You ingratiated yourself into your victim’s family, gaining first the trust of his mother who regarded you as a role model.
“You abused trust placed in you by his family... assaulting him in your home and his home. The impact on your victim and his family has been significant.”
She said McCafferty, a former kit man at the Glasgow club, had regarded his “outrageous betrayal” as “a bit of fun”.
The abuse took place from 2012 to 2015. Beattie approached McCafferty at his home in Belfast in December 2016.
Speaking outside Belfast crown court yesterday, Det Ch Insp Anne Marks said: “Journalists played a very important part and they brought our attention to the abuse which McCafferty had committed and we thank them for that.”
Ms Marks praised the victim’s bravery and also read a statement from the boy’s mother, which said: “It has been in incredibly tough two years for my family, something no mother should ever have to go through.
“My son is kind and caring and compassionate. He is a young man and this will have an impact on him for the rest of his life.”
An NSPCC spokesman for the said: “McCafferty is now rightly behind bars. Sexual abuse ruins childhoods with the effects lasting long into adulthood.
“We hope the child continues to receive support to recover.”