FOOTBALL’S ABUSE CRISIS CHELSEA ADMIT GAG WAS WRONG
Club say buying silence ‘inappropriate’ as second victim set to meet police
CHELSEA admitted last night that it was a mistake to put a gagging clause into a 2015 settlement with Gary Johnson, a victim of Seventies sexual abuse at the hands of scout Eddie Heath. The club also admitted that they were told about multiple other alleged victims in 2014, but did nothing.
This shocking development in football’s unfolding country-wide abuse scandal comes as The Mail on Sunday can reveal that another of Heath’s victims will attend a formal police interview on Tuesday to put on record his own story of being abused in 1974.
That player, now 57 and whose identity is known by this newspaper but is being kept confidential at his request, will tell police that Dario Gradi — then a Chelsea coach, now Crewe’s director of football — visited his family home after Heath assaulted him and convinced his parents to drop any formal complaint.
The former player said: ‘[Gradi] came to visit my parents and me to smooth it over. I remember him saying something like, “Eddie . . . he gets a bit close to the boys. I’m sorry if he’s overstepped the mark in his fondness this time”.’
The player first contacted the police on Thursday, and they set up Tuesday’s meeting.
Gradi’s club Crewe have already announced a club inquiry into multiple allegations of historical sexual abuse involving former employee Barry Bennell. Gradi has declined to comment on the incident when he visited the Chelsea youth player’s home in 1974, and does not deny it happened.
The Mail on Sunday asked Gradi how many allegations of abuse against Heath he knew about when a Chelsea employee and he also declined to comment on that.
In a statement issued via Crewe, he said: ‘Aside from denying any wrongdoing, it would be inappropriate and unfair on all parties to comment piecemeal through the media at this time in connection with historic allegations.
‘Suffice to say, I will do everything within my power to assist all investigatory authorities into what is becoming a wide-ranging and important inquiry into historic sexual abuse.’
The Mail on Sunday are now aware of multiple parties alleging abuse at the hands of Heath — and Chelsea’s statement last night confirms they were told of multiple allegations by Gary Johnson’s lawyers in 2014.
Chelsea paid £50,000 in a secret settlement to Johnson, which included a confidentiality clause to prevent him discussing the matter. The club’s statement said Johnson ‘suffered unacceptably while in our employment in the Seventies, for which the club apologises profusely’.
Chelsea also said: ‘It was stated by Mr Johnson’s solicitors that Heath had inappropriate relationships with other young boys/men from the club, although no names were given to us.
‘With the limited information the club received, we were unable to identify any further individuals who may have been subject to abuse. When dealing with this matter, the club operated on the basis that the incidents occurred in the Seventies and Heath had died in the early Eighties. Accordingly, Heath was no longer a risk to children.’
In what appears to be an acceptance that Chelsea might have been more pro-active in trying to find out more about Heath’s other victims, they said: ‘The extent to which the club should, notwithstanding this, have commenced a more detailed investigation and reported it to the Premier League and FA is an issue that will be addressed in detail in the club’s external law firm review.’
Chelsea announced last week they have retained an external law firm to carry out an investigation into historical sexual abuse claims. ‘If further evidence is uncovered we will ensure that we help victims in any way we can,’ Chelsea said.
The club now accept that inserting what was in effect a gag clause into Gary Johnson’s settlement agreement was ‘inappropriate’.
Last night’s statement said: ‘The decision to have a confidentiality clause in this case has been subject to significant scrutiny. We have asked the external law firm to review what was done and to make recommendations about best practice for settling claims of this nature in future.
‘In advance of that, however, the board would like to make clear that, in light of what we know now about the widescale abuse in football clubs in the Seventies and Eighties, it now believes that the use of such a clause, while understandable, was inappropriate in this instance. We certainly have no desire to hide any historic abuse we uncover from view. Quite the opposite.
‘We are determined to learn from this case and will do everything we can to investigate these horrific events. We owe that at the very least to those who suffered unacceptable abuse from the people that were entrusted with their care.’
As detailed elsewhere in this newspaper today, the abuse scandal continues to expand within football, and beyond. Neil Kerton, a former Southampton youth player, has alleged that he was abused by one of the club’s youth development officers, a well-known figure on the South Coast.
‘I’d be in his car and driving along and there wasn’t a massive amount of conversation and next thing you know he’d get you to put his head in your lap,’ Kerton says.
‘I would be in the passenger seat laying across and I’m in a frozen state and I am pretty sure he’s half playing with himself, trying to slide his hands down your back.’ Southampton and Hants Constabulary are just two of the clubs and police forces who have opened investigations into historic abuse in football. Police Scotland confirmed last week they are also investigating claims of footballrelated child abuse.