Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PAEDO COACH CAGED
Pervert locked up for ‘depraved’ abuse of 10 young footballers
PAEDOPHILE football coach Jim Mccafferty was jailed for almost seven years yesterday for sexually abusing young players in his care.
Ten victims of the pervert, including one from Northern Ireland, were named alongside a sickening catalogue of abuse he subjected them to.
Edinburgh High Court heard the 73-year-old may die in jail years after grooming kids and parents to secure trust and access to the youngsters to achieve his “depraved objectives”.
Lord Beckett told Mccafferty, who moved to Belfast nine years ago: “The courts must do what they can to seek to eradicate the sexual abuse of children engaged in sport.”
VITAL evidence from a Northern Ireland victim of paedophile football coach Jim Mccafferty helped cage the monster for almost seven years yesterday.
The 73-year-old, formerly of Raby Street in Belfast, appeared in Edinburgh High Court as a number of survivors watched proceedings from the public gallery, many weeping.
Police Scotland had presented prosecutors with 66 charges taken from interviews with 27 claimants and yesterday the pervert pensioner admitted preying on 10 youngsters between 1972 and 1996.
The court heard how one of the victims, now 41 and from Northern Ireland, had promising hopes of a career in professional football.
Prosecutor Jo Mcdonald said: “He had a trial for Celtic.
“During the season [in the 1990s] he travelled by ferry from Northern Ireland to Stranraer every week for the match on Saturday.
“[Mccafferty] collected him along with other boys and drove them to their digs in East Kilbride.
“During these journeys [Mccafferty] would ask the complainant to sit next to him on the minibus and he would touch his genitals and make the complainant touch [Mccafferty’s] penis over his clothing.
“The complainant signed as a fulltime professional player. On one occasion in a hostel [Mccafferty] entered the dormitory, put his hands under the bedclothes and touched [the boy’s] genitals over his clothes.
FLATTERY
“The complainant recalls being at the Grand Central Hotel Glasgow when [Mccafferty] entered his hotel room and asked another boy to leave the room.
“While the complainant was sitting on the bed [Mccafferty] got on top of him, kissed him and put his hand inside his clothing.”
Mccafferty groomed his victims with gifts and flattery but subjected them to enforced sex acts, sometimes while driving them to their digs.
He also joined his victims in the showers.
One said it was “difficult to recollect the exact number of occasions”.
Another of his targets later confided to a friend after he had a chance encounter with Mccafferty years after his footballing days were over and he was so fearful he wet himself.
He reported the abuse to police in the mid-90s and Mccafferty was interviewed but denied the allegations.
Another victim was abused from the ages of 14 to 17 while playing for Fauldhouse Juniors in West Lothian where Mccafferty was manager.
He told how the monster offered him work on his fruit and veg stall and got him to stay overnight at his Wishaw home.
He recalled the first time he was abused when Mccafferty came in smelling of alcohol and cigarettes.
He got into bed and rolled on top of the “terrified” youth before abusing him.
High Court Judge Lord Beckett accepted the guilty plea from the former kitman for Celtic, Hibernian and Falkirk and sentenced him to six years and nine months for sexually abusing young footballers over a 24-year period.
He was removed from Maghaberry Prison and taken to Scotland to answer an arrest warrant on completion of his previous jail term for child sex abuse in Belfast.
Yesterday, the judge said the now frail Mccafferty had been physically intimidating and had used his overpowering personality to achieve his “depraved objectives” of abusing young boys.
He told him: “I note that when you were coaching boys in the various capacities described, you have been portrayed as being physically intimidating and an overpowering personality which you used to achieve your depraved objectives.
“You took advantage of your position of trust as a football coach to groom and then sexually abuse boys who played for your teams.
“You were adept at identifying the circumstances of different boys so you could manipulate them and in some cases their parents in a variety of ways.
“And all of this was done to facilitate your sexually abusing children.
“Careers did not reach their full potential, some were cut short and lives have been seriously blighted. Many of those you abused have suffered from enduring anxiety and depression caused by what you did.
“Conduct of this kind has a wider effect which is corrupting and socially corrosive.
“It has the potential to undermine the trust which people place in youth football and sports clubs.”
Mccafferty was revealed as a serial child sex abuser in December 2016 following a sensational confession when confronted by the Daily Mirror in his South Belfast flat.
The pervert admitted a sickening catalogue of abuse against young boys, some inside Celtic’s stadium, during an appearance at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Mccafferty, originally from Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, was a coach and manager at various clubs in West Lothian and Lanarkshire before moving to work at Celtic Boys Club and Celtic FC where he was the kitman for the Parkhead side.
Prosecutor Jo Mcdonald described Mccafferty’s behaviour as grooming, able to use his positions at the clubs to “nurture his relationships” with the victims, “ultimately leading to their abuse”.
She said: “He [had a] reputation as
being intimidating, loud, aggressive and strict and was physically intimidating in his height and stature.”
The court heard how many of the boys he targeted were “scared” of him.
Ms Mcdonald added: “Although he was overpowering, there was also a sense he was respected as an experienced coach who was jovial, larger than life and appeared to be liked by other coaches and parents.
“His football experience as a past player and coach impressed the boys and their parents alike and he was an influential figure.
“The combination of his influential position, his position of trust and his ability to intimidate made an impact on the boys and created the circumstances which enabled him to carry out a campaign of sexual abuse.”
Mccafferty gave gifts to the boys and at times their families, using his influence to treat them, in particular boys whose social background would not have allowed for such rewards.
Defence counsel Shelagh Mccall said the paedophile was “likely” to spend the rest of his life in prison due to his age and poor health.
She added he wished to apologise to his victims and their families “for what it’s worth”. Chief Insp Sarah Taylor, who led the Police Scotland investigation, said she was satisfied by the court ruling.
She added: “The trust and respect they showed him was repaid by a complete and utter abuse of power. Mccafferty exploited his position to satisfy his own sexual depravity.”
Lord Beckett placed the monster on the sex offenders register for life and returned him to Addiewell Jail in Livingstone.
The frail Mccafferty shuffled out of the court – relying on a walking aid – without looking at the public gallery.