Paedophile football coach Barry Bennell worked in a children’s home for two years – as new victim reveals pinball machine and hardcore porn in predator’s lair
PAEDOPHILE football coach Barry Bennell spent two years working in a children’s care home, it has been revealed.
Bennell worked at Taxal Edge residential school in Derbyshire from November 1979 to July 1981, the Sunday People reported.
It comes as ex-player Yan Nowacki revealed his fears that he may have been Bennell’s first victim to The Sun today.
Meanwhile, the FA has announced it has launched an internal probe into sex abuse – as it’s revealed 20 players have come forward as victims.
According to an ex-pupil, the predator would sneak children into Old Trafford to watch Manchester United play – using his connections to get them in for free.
The pupil added Bennell would breed giant white rabbits and sell them – describing it as “very strange”.
Speaking to the , another victim has also revealed Bennell abused him while forcing him to watch hardcore porn.
Anthony Hughes, a former youth star, waived his right to anonymity to tell of the abuse he suffered while at Crewe Alexandra’s Centre of Excellence.
Hughes, whose career was cut short following a spinal injury, said Bennell would take “11 or 12” boys back to his home – filled with games, a pinball machine and even bunk beds – where he’d play football videos before forcing the children to watch porn and abusing them.
He said: “As adults we now understand what was going on was just so terribly wrong.
“I cannot praise [Andy Woodward] enough for his bravery in speaking out.”
In 1998, Bennell, 62, was jailed for nine years at Chester Crown Court after admitting 23 charges of sexual offences against six boys, aged nine to 15, between 1978 and 1992.
Now, League Two club Crewe Alexandra has launched an independent review into how the club has dealt with historical child abuse allegations – after former player Andy Woodward spoke out about the abuse in an interview with the Guardian.
It has emerged the club was once told Bennell abused a junior footballer – but allowed him to stay on the condition they were banned from his home.
Meanwhile, police are also investigating Bruce McLean, 60, another former staff member at Taxal Edge residential school. He worked there from 1975 to 1978, and later founded a Cheshire-based children’s charity, the Adventure Farm Trust.
The charity received the support of celebrities including singer Phil Collins and actor Sir Michael Caine.
However, McLean was suspended in 1995 and jailed for nine years in 1997 for abusing children at a children’s home in Cheshire.
The court heard he volunteered as a football coach and assaulted his victims after taking them to Old Trafford.
Commenting on the latest inquiry, Derbyshire Police said: “We received reports of sexual abuse dating back to the 70s, allegedly against a boy at Taxal Edge residential school in Derbyshire.
“As part of our subsequent investigation, in 2014 we arrested a 58-year-old man on suspicion of sexual offences.”