Barry Bennell has been accused of smirking during his trial on a day in which a court heard how the father of one alleged victim accosted the former Manchester City football coach over rumours of inappropriate behaviour with young players.

Bennell has admitted seven offences of sexual abuse but denies another 48 counts relating to 11 boys from 1979 to 1990. He appeared via video link at Liverpool crown court on Tuesday as the latest former player gave evidence, alleging he was raped seven to 10 times.

The former player, once affiliated to Crewe Alexandra, where Bennell was also a coach, said he had been one of the six complainants when the accused was convicted of previous sexual offences in 1997, but was too embarrassed to reveal details of the more serious assaults to the police at the time. He changed his mind after Andy Woodward came forward in November 2016 about being another of Bennell’s victims and, now in his 40s, alleges he was abused more than 100 times from the age of 11 to 14 during the 1980s.

“I’ve been carrying this around in my head for the last 30 years,” he said. “I had some kind of closure in 1997. But 20 years on, I had the chance [to give the full story]. I wouldn’t have done it if Andy Woodward hadn’t done it. And even when it’s over, it won’t be over because it’s still in my head.

“Unless you’ve been raped multiple times, been abused God knows how many times, you can’t stand up there and tell me what I’m thinking or feeling, or how it’s affected my life. And him, smirking on the screen, denying everything – he’s shown no remorse ever. Even the stuff he’s admitted to, he’s never given one apology and he still sits there.”

In a statement read to the jury, the player’s father said Bennell had no close adult friends at Crewe. He was seen as a Peter Pan-figure because of the way he made himself attractive to boys, including keeping a spider monkey called Gizmo.

The father said he once challenged Bennell about his relationship with the boys.

“I heard Barry had an altercation with a group of boys. Someone had accused him of inappropriate behaviour. On hearing this, I wanted to challenge him directly. I recall pulling him to one side and informing him what I had heard. I told him I wanted him to say something to quash my fears and I recall he gave me a reasonable response.”

Earlier, the former player told the jury that most of the assaults took place at Bennell’s house, but others were carried out on a trip to Southampton, when the team slept together in a sports hall, and a holiday to the Canary Islands. Bennell, he said, had taken his girlfriend on the holiday but came into the bed he was sharing with another boy while she was in the shower.

Describing one of the attacks, he alleged Bennell had found it amusing and “giggled arrogantly” when he saw the boy’s distress. “He just got up and started laughing at me. He cleaned himself up, went downstairs [to the other boys] and said nothing, as if nothing had happened. It was the worst I’ve ever felt in my life.”

He said Bennell continued to abuse him until, aged 14, on one overnight stop when his abuser shouted for him to come to his room, he called back that he did not want it happening any more.



“He said one line which has lived with me for the rest of my life. He gave me a look and said: ‘You must enjoy it,’ and gave me a smirk as he said it. I said, no, I didn’t enjoy it and turned my back, went into the bunk beds. That’s when I decided: ‘This is it, no more’ and I think he realised it as well.” Bennell, he said, followed him into the room anyway to abuse him.

In his police statements, Bennell admitted abusing the boy, along with another young Crewe player, in the same bed but said it stopped when he was challenged by the player giving evidence on Tuesday.

“One day he said to me: ‘Is that all you want me for?’ The shock was massive for me. I was totally gobsmacked, really taken aback. I was really scared because I was thinking he might say something. Part of me was scared. It was very hard because I had nobody to talk to.”

The trial continues.