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Ex-Football Coach Barry Bennell Denies Sex Assault Charges

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mikey4444 | 12:33 Mon 16th Jan 2017 | News
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It's no great surprise to me that he is pleading his innocence though it is his fundamental right to do so. Like the current Rolf Harris trial,I find it difficult that the juries in these cases can completely disregard past form. There have been many initiatives in the football world such as kicking out racism.Let's hope that a proper and thorough...
01:56 Tue 17th Jan 2017
Correct.
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Sqad....just keeping people informed of the latest progress in this paedophile investigation.
LOL....thanks.
And your point is?
He might be innocent.

Is he accused of being a paedophile or accused of abusing boys under 16? There is a difference.
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Ummmm....cal it what you like ::

Once a youth player at Chelsea,[24] Bennell had worked for at least four English professional clubs: Manchester City, Crewe (from around 1984 until he was sacked in 1992 for reasons that have never been made public), Stoke City and Leeds United,[25] and from 1992 to 1994 was head coach of the Staffordshire side Stone Dominoes.[26] During a 1994 Dominoes tour to the United States, a 13-year-old club player claimed that Bennell had sexually abused him. Bennell was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida, and eventually charged on six counts of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious behavior. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years' imprisonment.[25]
In the meantime, in 1996, a UK Channel 4 Dispatches programme highlighted child abuse allegations involving Bennell (also other coaches: Keith Ketley in Ipswich, Bob Higgins in Hampshire). The documentary featured Ian Ackley, a former player at Derbyshire youth side White Knowl, who was one of four boys who had come forward to British police after Bennell's US arrest.[27][28] As a result, although Bennell did not serve the full term of imprisonment in America, he was arrested again on his return to England.[25]
In February 1998, Bennell appeared at Mold Crown Court in north Wales and pleaded not guilty to charges of indecent assault, *** and attempted *** dating back to the 1970s and 1980s through to 1992, against children aged between nine and 15, with offences alleged to have taken place in Derbyshire, in the Crewe area and at Butlin's in Pwllheli, north Wales. Bennell was remanded in custody to appear at Chester Crown Court in June 1998.[29] At Chester, Bennell was found guilty of 23 offences against six boys (including Ian Ackley),[30] and received a nine-year jail sentence (a further 22 offences were left on file because the Crown Prosecution Service decided it was better not to put young boys through the trauma of a trial).[26] In May 2015, Bennell (then calling himself 'Richard Jones' and living in Milton Keynes) received a further sentence of two years after pleading guilty to sexually abusing David Lean[18][19] at a camp in Macclesfield in 1980.[9][31][32]
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Ummmm....see his current charges ::::

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/578890/Barry-Bennell-plea-Crewe-Alexandra-football-child-sex-offences

"All the offences are alleged to have happened between 1981 and 1986, when the victim was under the age of 16"
Things like this wouldn't happen nowadays. Not in that situation anyway.
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Ummm....we can't possibly know that.

People are committing sexual offences against children all the time, as a perusal of your local newspaper will tell you. Hardly a week goes by without someone being charged.

These offences occur due to two things....the unnatural desires of the perpetrators, combined with the opportunity. To be frank, if a sports coach, teacher, vicar, etc, etc wants to abuse young children, he can do it today just as it was done years ago. It will be more difficult, of course, but still entirely possible.
Mikey - with his record he wouldn't get the job. He wouldn't get any job working with children. Things have moved on since the 80's.
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I agree with you about Bennell....its unlikely that he will ever work again.

But he committed most of his offences before being charged with anything. Not only that, but when suspicions were raised, he went to other Football Clubs and continued his abusing there, rather in the way that Priests were moved to other Parishes, or in a few cases, Bishops were moved to other Dioceses.

Sport must include a certain amount of bodily contact, and the Coaches are there to see that young kids learn their skills well and safely.

I am not convinced that enough is being done to protect children from the minority of perverts that are active within sports and similar activities. And even when there are suspicions raised, not enough alacrity is displayed, as was seen by the appalling amount of faffing about that went on, late last year, in certain football clubs, some of them household names.

We still have a lot to learn it would seem.
It would nowadays.

Obviously someone has to commit a crime to appear on the register. I don't think my swimming teacher or Judo teacher would have had CRB checks (or whatever it's called now)
//I am not convinced that enough is being done to protect children from the minority of perverts that are active within sports and similar activities. //

Perhaps we should spend more money and effort on current perverts rather than historical then?
Mikey4444 - good post at 12.14.

Whether historical or not,every stop should be pulled out to ensure that justice is done and every available resource is used to accomplish that.
-- answer removed --
Mikey, //But he committed most of his offences before being charged with anything. //

Most of them? Did he commit any after he was charged?
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Vortex....you get your first BA !....A good and sensible post.
Mikey4444 - thank you kind sir :-)
Int he immortal words of Mandy Rice-Davies
"Well he would, wouldn't he ?"
It's no great surprise to me that he is pleading his innocence though it is his fundamental right to do so.

Like the current Rolf Harris trial,I find it difficult that the juries in these cases can completely disregard past form.

There have been many initiatives in the football world such as kicking out racism.Let's hope that a proper and thorough investigation is made into the claims made by all those who have come forward and that those responsible are brought to book.

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