Guilty, football coach who sexually abused teen boys in shower
A FORMER team coach who preyed on teenage boys has admitted charges of indecency.
James Brown’s conviction follows a major investigation into sexual abuse within Scottish football.
The 71-year-old last week pleaded guilty to three charges of indecent assault after he groped three players in the showers at Fauldhouse Boys Club during the late 1970s.
Brown’s crimes emerged as police were interviewing explayers in relation to a string of more serious allegations against another man linked to the West Lothian club.
Police Scotland began probing abuse in football clubs in November 2016 after highprofile sportsmen – including Scotland legend Alan Brazil – talked openly of their own terrifying experiences.
Detectives north of the Border have investigated 298 alleged crimes, identified 153 potential victims and charged 13 people. Among them was Brown, a former coach at Fauldhouse, who was last night described by a Police Scotland spokesman as a ‘trusted individual who preyed on and abused children in his care’.
Livingston Sheriff Court heard that Brown, of Shotts, Lanarkshire, tried to pass off his actions as ‘banter’.
The grandfather was added to the sex offenders’ register and will be sentenced following background reports.
The court was told that in 1977 and 1978, Brown would strip naked to join the teenagers in showers and slap their private parts with his hands and a wet towel.
Although he portrayed his actions as ‘horseplay’, players felt humiliated and degraded.
Kirsty Lyons, prosecuting, said one victim had joined the club as a 14-year-old. She added: ‘The witness said it happened all the time.’ Miss Lyons said a second victim ‘stated what the accused did to him made him feel degraded’, while a third young victim said Brown would carry out similar assaults ‘as a laugh’.
Defence solicitor Iain Smith said: ‘Mr Brown accepts that what he did was inappropriate, but it was done in the open in front of team members, coaches and indeed parents.’
Rumours of child abuse have haunted Scotland’s football clubs since the late 1960s.
But it was only in 1998 that Jim Torbett, coach of Celtic Boys Club, was convicted of molesting former players, including Mr Brazil.
SFA boss Stewart Regan has since issued an apology after former youth coach and assistant referee Hugh Stevenson – who died in 2004 – was accused of abuse.