Who says puppy love can’t last?
Dachshunds Kiki and Henry love to cuddle up in their basket FORMER football scout and Manchester City coach Barry Bennell was convicted yesterday of 36 sex attacks on 10 boy footballers.
The 64-year-old, who has previously served three jail sentences for similar offences, was branded a “predatory and determined paedophile”.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Bennell had a “power hold” over aspiring players aged between eight and 15, abusing them on an “industrial scale”.
He was compared to the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and made his home a boys’ “paradise” with a pool table, arcade machines and pets including a monkey.
Bennell was found guilty of 27 indecent assaults, seven serious sexual assaults and two attempted serious sexual assaults against 10 boys between 1979 and 1990.
Raped
The jury failed to reach a conclusion on seven offences and will continue deliberating today. Recorder of Liverpool Judge Clement Goldstone QC told them he would accept majority verdicts.
During the trial the judge had already directed jurors to clear Bennell of three other child sex charges.
The youth scout and junior football coach was associated with clubs including Stoke City, Manchester City and, most notably, Crewe Alexandra.
Giving evidence, one victim Chris Unsworth – who waived his right to anonymity – said Bennell had raped him “about half a dozen times”.
The court heard that Bennell told young footballers he could make or break their careers.
Prosecutors branded him a “child molester on an industrial IT was puppy love at first sight when dachshunds Henry and Kiki first met – and six years on the couple are still barking mad about each other.
Today, the loved-up couple will enjoy a romantic Valentine’s Day, savouring a tin of dog meat before retiring to their basket for extra cuddles.
Owner Jennifer Mooney, 45, bought Henry as a 12-week-old puppy from a pet shop. But she soon realised he needed a doggy companion and scoured rescue websites until she found scale” who would groom both his victims and their families.
He was said to have been treated like “God” by parents and youngsters at Manchester City’s Maine Road ground.
The boys were abused at Bennell’s homes in Cheshire, on trips away and in his car on the way to and from training.
One victim, who Bennell previously admitted abusing, said he knew of four men he coached – including former Wales manager Gary Speed – who had gone on to take their lives. However there was no evidence that linked the coach to the suicides.
Bennell, who has had part of his tongue removed due to cancer, appeared in court via videolink for health reasons and declined to give evidence.
In police interviews he admitted having a “grooming 11-month-old Kiki. When they met, a romance was born.
Now toyboy Henry and his older lady friend are inseparable and have their own Instagram account, with 31,000 followers cooing over their cuteness.
Jennifer, of West Hartford, Connecticut, US, said: “Henry and Kiki’s love continues to grow every day.
“They cuddle, they play, they look out for one another. They are true partners.” process” and being attracted to teenage boys. But Bennell claimed his accusers were after cash compensation.
Eleanor Laws QC, defending, described him as being a “sitting target” after being convicted and jailed three times for child sexual abuse in the 1990s and in 2015.
Before the trial he admitted seven other counts of indecent assault involving three boys.