Barry Bennell: Men lose case against Manchester City over abuse

Eight men who sued Manchester City after saying they were abused by paedophile Barry Bennell more than 30 years ago have lost a High Court fight.

The men said he abused them when they played for teams he coached in north-west England between 1979 and 1985.

Mr Justice Johnson ruled that it had not been shown that City was "legally responsible for Bennell's acts of abuse".

The lawyer who represented the men said they were "shocked and dismayed".

The men, now in their 40s and 50s, claimed Bennell was a scout for City when they were abused and argued the relationship between the paedophile and the Premier League club was "one of employment or one akin to employment".

City denied the claims and told the court the 68-year-old was a local scout in the mid-1970s but not when the men were abused.

Bennell, who is in prison after being convicted of numerous sexual offences against children in recent years, denied being linked to City in the 1980s when he gave evidence during the High Court trial.

He told the judge he had been a "local scout" for City between 1975 and 1979, but not between 1979 and 1985.

But he told the court he had "always used and exploited" his previous connections with City for his "own benefit".

Mr Justice Johnson said Bennell was a "manipulative liar" and not a credible witness, and that each of the claimants had proved they were abused by him.

The judge, who made the ruling at the High Court on Monday, said it was due to the men's "selfless bravery" that Bennell was in prison.

"If it were not for their courage, other boys may have been at risk of suffering in the same way," he said.

"They have saved those boys from that fate. It has come at great personal cost."

But the judge ruled that the claims were brought too late to result in a fair trial.

He said while each of the men had a "good explanation" for the delay, the evidence was less clear than it would have been had the claims been brought in time - in part because a key witness died in 2010.

"It is not fair, after all these years, to reach a binding determination on MCFC's responsibility for the abuse based on the partial evidence that is still available," he added.

The judge said the connection between the abuse and Bennell's relationship with City was "insufficient to give rise to vicarious liability".

"The relationship gave Bennell the opportunity to commit the abuse, but MCFC had not entrusted the welfare of the claimants to Bennell," he said.

Solicitor David McClenaghan, who represented the men, said there would be an appeal.

"Despite the judge accepting that there was a connection between Bennell and Man City and that he was scouting for them, coaching their feeder teams and helping to organise trial games for them, the club has escaped liability on a technicality," he said.

"My clients are incredibly disappointed by the behaviour of Manchester City Football Club."

Bennell, who became a coach at Crewe Alexandra in 1985, is currently serving a 34-year sentence after being convicted of sexual offences against boys on five separate occasions - four in the UK and one in the US.

A Manchester City spokeswoman said it was "accepted by all parties that the abuse had taken place".

In a statement after the ruling, the club said: "Manchester City has both personally and publicly apologised without reservation for the unimaginable suffering that each survivor experienced as the result of abuse they suffered.

"The club reiterates this apology today to the survivors and to the multiple family members and friends affected by the traumatic events, the ramifications of which are felt by so many to the present day and will continue to be felt for a long time to come."

City said it had launched a compensation scheme in 2019 "designed as an alternative route to civil action, which can often be lengthy, traumatic and costly" offering payments to victims of "non-recent child abuse".

The spokeswoman confirmed that "scores of survivors via multiple law firms have successfully utilised the scheme" but the victims in the High Court trial had not used the scheme.

A spokesman for the Offside Trust, an organisation set up by survivors of child sexual abuse in sport, said the ruling was "yet another step in the search for justice and truth".

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