Court hears how one alleged victim of the ex-football coach felt ‘rigid with fear’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Former football coach Barry Bennell told police he had tried to kill himself after allegedly abusing boys because he was “out of control”, a jury has heard.

Liverpool crown court was told on Thursday that the former Crewe Alexandra coach had written a letter making a “veiled threat” to a complainant who had spoken about the alleged abuse. The jury heard a transcript of a police interview with the 64-year-old about allegations made by a complainant.

Bennell, who has admitted seven charges of sexually abusing three boys, aged 11 to 14, but denies 48 other counts relating to 11 boys from 1979 to 1991, told police he remembered a time when he was “going through ideas to stop” the abuse.

“I took an overdose,” he said. “I’ve done a few things to try and stop it all. I was out of control at the time.” He had half of his tongue removed due to a tumour and was unable to eat and drink, he told officers.

“I got cancer and I thought ‘Well, it’s karma’,” said Bennell. “If you said to me ‘lethal injection’, I’d take it.”

He also told them he would try to groom alleged victims to make sure he would not get caught. “That was the evil, that’s just how I was,” he said.

Bennell has admitted one count of indecent assault against the complainant but denied other allegations against him because he said the alleged victim “wouldn’t allow it”. He said: “He stopped it early, very early; I wish they all stopped it.”

“In my sick mind I actually thought the victim enjoyed the situation,” he added.

The court was shown a video of an interview with another complainant who said he had felt “rigid with fear” as he was allegedly abused by Bennell at the coach’s home. The man said when he left Crewe Alexandra, where he played as a youth, he had been asked by other football coaches about Bennell.

He said: “Questions were asked, rumours were rife and I was happy to confirm what I knew.”

The complainant said he later received a letter from the football club, written by Bennell, who was “asking me why I was making allegations and saying things about him after all the things he had done for me”.

The letter said: “It’s a small world, the football world, and trouble-causers don’t go far in the game.”

“It was a veiled threat,” the complainant said.

Describing the alleged abuse, he said: “You’re like a frightened rabbit; you know it’s not right but you don’t know how to stop.” He added he had “bolted out of bed” during one alleged incident.

“I went to the toilet and had a bit of a cry, like a frightened cry,” he said. “Alarmingly, I went and got back into bed with him.”

The complainant said he had first stayed at Bennell’s house overnight before going with him to the Bobby Charlton Soccer School, where he alleged Bennell was a coach.

Bennell denied working at the soccer school in a police interview, the court heard, but said he had been to observe a session at Manchester United’s ground. He said: “David Beckham was there. David, he was like the best player in the country at the time and I went to go and see him.”

The trial continues.