Four English police forces probe abuse claims
FOUR police forces are investigating allegations of historical sexual abuse against children in English football circles as part of a deepening scandal, it was revealed on Saturday.
Several ex-footballers have spoken out about being abused after former Crewe Alexandra player Andy Woodward came forward to reveal he was abused by convicted child molester Barry Bennell in the 1980s.
A pre-existing inquiry into child sex abuse in Britain said it was “watching events closely”, while England captain Wayne Rooney has urged anyone who may have been assaulted to seek help.
The Metropolitan Police, Britain’s largest force, said it had “received information relating to non-recent sexual abuse in football clubs in London”.
Hampshire, Cheshire and Northumbria forces, from southern, northwest and northeast England respectively, said they were all investigating nonrecent child sex abuse claims.
Northumbria Police said it was looking into an allegation by an unnamed former Newcastle United player that he was abused in the club’s youth system.
Newcastle said they would cooperate with authorities “if or when the club receives further information”.
The Premier League said it was “very concerned” by the allegations.
Former Manchester City youth team player Jason Dunford told the BBC he felt there was a “conspiracy and pedophile ring” within football circles in the northwest of England in the 1980s.
Former England and Manchester City players David White and Paul Stewart and ex-Crewe player Steve Walters have also spoken out about being sexually abused by coaches as children.
Bennell, who worked for Crewe, Manchester City and Stoke City, sexually abused young boys across three decades from the 1970s onwards.
He was given a four-year sentence for raping a British boy during a football tour of Florida in 1994 and a nine-year sentence for 23 offences against six boys in England in 1998. He was jailed again in 2015 for abusing a boy at a football camp in Macclesfield, northwest England, in 1980.