Celtic Boys Club: Cross-border investigation into football sex abusers

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A “paedophile ring” involving the most notorious abuser in British sporting history and a Celtic Boys Club coach is being investigated.

 

The Scottish and English FAs are examining a “partnership” between Jim McCafferty, a former Celtic kitman and boys coach, and Barry Bennell, who worked with young players at Manchester City and Crewe Alexandra.

Last week McCafferty, 73, was jailed for abusing boys over a 24-year period. Bennell, 65, is serving a 30-year sentence for molesting youngsters on an “industrial scale”.

 

A source close to the Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football said: “The partnership between McCafferty and Bennell is included in the investigation. There will be full disclosure.”

 

A final report from the review was delayed last year to avoid prejudicing criminal proceedings.

 

The Times understands that it will contain evidence that McCafferty took youngsters from Glasgow to tournaments in the northwest of England where they were introduced to Bennell. The information has been shared with the English FA.

Manchester City, which is carrying out an abuse investigation of its own, has established that Bennell took youngsters to tournaments in Ayrshire.

 

Thompsons Solicitors is convinced that McCafferty was part of an organised abuse network that involved Bennell and Jim Torbett, 71, the founder of Celtic Boys Club, who was jailed for abusing boys last November.

 

Patrick McGuire, a partner with the firm, said: “It was our survivor clients who were able to present the evidence of links between McCafferty and Bennell, and McCafferty and Torbett.

 

“There is clear evidence of trips being organised in both directions: Bennell bringing boys up to Scotland and McCafferty taking boys’ clubs on trips to the Greater Manchester area. I’m glad the SFA have finally taken account of the evidence that we have been putting forward.”

 

Mr McGuire said he expected that the report would present “clear and compelling evidence of a football paedophile ring operating in plain sight across the UK”, adding: “McCafferty and Bennell were the two most prolific and horrific paedophiles that we know of in football circles. Undoubtedly they were working together in some form or another. It makes you shudder. How many boys, how many young men will have been impacted by their evil activity?”

 

One victim said that McCafferty organised trips to northwest England. He told Sky News: “McCafferty said, ‘I am going to take you to see a friend of mine’ and we drove from Manchester to Crewe. It was Barry Bennell who we met, he introduced us to him.”

 

A Manchester City source said: “There is a Scottish link. Bennell used to take a team to tournaments in the Ayr area.” Bennell, a scout and coach, was convicted of 50 abuse charges between 1979 and 1991 and was described by police as one of the worst paedophiles in British criminal history.

 

Sentencing him, Judge Clement Goldstone, QC, branded him “sheer evil” and “the devil incarnate”.

 

Edinburgh high court was told that two of McCafferty’s victims died young after a life plagued by addiction and depression.

 

He was the fourth man with connections to Celtic Boys Club to be convicted for abusing children in recent months.

A spokesman for the English Independent Review into Child Sex Abuse Allegations in Football confirmed that it was considering matters raised by McCafferty’s conviction. Its final report was delayed last year to allow further examination of allegations relating to Bennell.

 

Police Scotland said: “Our investigation into McCafferty concluded with his sentencing.”

 

Celtic FC and Crewe Alexandra did not respond to a request for comment. The Glasgow club has expressed sympathy for the victims but insists that the boys’ club is separate and not its responsibility.

 

The key figures

 

Jim McCafferty, 73
The former Celtic kit man and Celtic Boys Club coach was jailed for six years and nine months last week after admitting 12 charges against young players over a 24-year period starting in 1972. He was also sentenced to three years and nine months in August 2018 for sexually abusing a teenage boy in Belfast.

 

Barry Bennell, 65
The former football coach, who worked at Manchester City and Crewe Alexandra, was sentenced last February to 30 years in prison for sex offences against junior players.

 

Jim Torbett, 71
The founder of the Celtic Boys Club was sentenced to six years last November for abusing three boys between 1986 and 1994. He was also jailed for two years in 1998 for molesting children between 1967 and 1974.

 

Frank Cairney, 83
The former coach of Celtic Boys Club under-16s team was jailed in February for four years. He abused eight boys while running a team in Lanarkshire. He joined Celtic Boys Club in 1971 after being asked to run the youth side by the manager Jock Stein.

 

Gerald King, 66
The former Celtic Boys Club chairman avoided jail in January despite being convicted of abusing four boys and a girl at a Glasgow primary school in the 1980s. He was found guilty of using lewd and libidinous practices towards his five victims between 1984 and 1989.

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/celtic-boys-club-cross-border-investigation-into-football-sex-abusers-dxmvndjgc

 

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"A source close to the Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football said: “The partnership between McCafferty and Bennell is included in the investigation. There will be full disclosure.”

 

"Police Scotland said: “Our investigation into McCafferty concluded with his sentencing.”

 

Hmmmm.......

 

Does the left foot know what the right foot is doing?

 

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On BBC Scotland news at moment. Things are heating up for Celtic board.