Barry Bennell, a convicted paedophile, has passed away at the age of 69 while in prison. The former Manchester City scout died at HMP Littlehey in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning, as reported by the Sun. Bennell served as a youth coach for Crewe Alexandra, Manchester City, and Stoke City during the 1980s and 1990s. He also had associations with youth teams across several English counties, including Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire.
Bennell used his position to groom and sexually abuse the young boys under his care. His criminal history dates back to 1994 when he was first imprisoned for abusing a teenage boy during a football camp in Florida. In 2018, he received a 31-year prison sentence, and Judge Clement Goldstone QC, who presided over the case at Liverpool Crown Court, referred to him as the “devil incarnate” for his 50 counts of child sexual abuse.
Bennell’s predatory behavior came to light in 1997 when Channel 4’s Dispatches aired ‘Soccer’s Foul Play,’ revealing how such coaches could exploit their positions to carry out heinous acts against the children they were responsible for. Before his 2018 sentencing, Bennell had been incarcerated three times over two decades for sexual abuse of young boys. In 2018, he faced an additional 43 sexual offense charges and was branded a “child molester on an industrial scale.” Two years later, he received an additional four-year sentence as more abuse cases emerged.
A former Chelsea youth team player, Bennell manipulated young footballers by promising to fulfill their dreams. He organized youth football tours and summer holiday camps in both the UK and the US.
One of Bennell’s victims, who attended a US football camp, recounted their experience anonymously to ITV in 2018, stating, “The family, lovely family set up the spare room for me. I lasted one night in that spare room before he spoke to the family – ‘he’s fine with me downstairs’ – he could manipulate anyone. Somebody must have known; this man can’t have gotten away with what he was doing for so long without other people questioning what was happening.”
During his trial, it was revealed that Bennell even sent a Facebook message to one of his victims, where he falsely claimed to have cancer and referred to it as “payback.” The message read, “Good to see you have a family and enjoying life. I got cancer a while back and it’s left me in a mess.” He continued, “Won’t go into details, but it’s not pretty. Payback, I hear you saying, well I understand that.” He also added, “Drop me a line saying how your life is going. All the best, Barry.” The victim did not respond.
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