Who is watching your children play sport, do we really know?
Who is watching your children play sport, Do we
really know?
By
David Lean and Jason Holyhead
While both of my blogs are factual, any opinion expressed
are my own.
Let me begin by making it very clear that this is a
real-life situation and it did not happen twenty years ago; this is ongoing as
I write and in fact, I only became aware of it myself on October 9th 2020. I have decided not to mention names,
although I have added a link to a media report from Granada Reports to add
evidence to support this blog being the truth, should you wish to watch it
alongside your reading.
Thank you Jason for helping me write and draw
attention to this Truth.
On October 8th 2020 I was aware that Barry Bennell - the football
coach who has sexually abused over 100 boys, was finally being sentenced in Court
for the last time. This process had started all over again for Bennell, who was
first convicted in the 90s and when I disclosed in 2013 the sexual abuse
I suffered as a 12 year old boy back in 1980.
At first my case was dropped but I fought that decision,
having to change prosecution guidance during the process and won which then
started a chain of events which then ran for over 7 and a half years until
October 8th 2020.
Convicted sex offender Barry Bennell and myself as a child
It has been such a difficult period, although I
believe we have certainly made positive change in certain areas due to
disclosing what happened to us as young children, it is very clear to me now
that we have only come half way to safeguarding children - especially within
sport.
It was such a relief to know that it was finally
over and that I could start to think about normal life again ( whatever that is
) after such a long time. I don’t feel I can describe exactly how I felt other
than massive relief. I was completely and utterly drained.
Then can you believe it, just 24 hours later
I received a private message from a friend, who sent me a photo of a press
article from the area that I was brought up in - Lytham St.Annes. The article
was about an individual who has been involved within Junior football for well
over 40 years. He had just attended Magistrates Court for offences of Sexual
Communications to what he believed to be a 12 year old boy; in fact it was part
of a police sting operation.
Being honest, for the next few hours I struggled to
process this. Yet again, another Individual - who on the outside appeared
caring, warm, dedicated and professional to everyone around him, was revealed
to have a darker side. But, this time not only was he my own football coach
when I was a boy of just 8 years of age - I have known him since I was around 6
years old, he was my first ever junior manager; a person who I looked up as a
boy.
I also worked alongside him at the Fylde Coast YMCA
Association for over 25 years. Of course I was upset, but I was also angry and
emotional.
I received lots of private messages that evening.
Having worked for Fylde Coast YMCA for over 35 years, I know a lot of people
who like me, have also played all their junior football for the club.
They were brilliant times; I loved every
minute of it. Mostly people were in disbelief, some were certainly angry. I
quickly set the record straight with the disbelievers, as I am fully aware of
how hard it is to get a case to court. I knew that to get an elderly man to go
through that process, then the evidence must have been clearly in place from
the police sting operation and they most certainly must have felt it was a
serious and convincing case, and that it must have met public interest and
evidence tests enough to take to Court.
It just goes to show again that you never know who
to trust around your children.
However, it wasn’t until the following day that
issues in my eyes took a massive turn for the worse, if that was possible at
this stage. I was again sent a private message from someone from the YMCA,
which was basically a statement from the LFA and the YMCA football club which
had been sent out to people involved within the club.
I read, re-read and read again this statement, and
to this day I cannot believe what It said. It included at the start information
sent out by the LFA, then finished with information from the YMCA football
club. Within this statement was the line. “ Many of you may have seen ( him )
at Seafield Road junior pitches and his attendance there as a spectator is
authorised and sanctioned by Lancashire FA and in accordance with LADO ( Local
Authority Designated Officer )”.
It also mentioned that the LFA had informed the FA
Case Management team at Wembley, and finally it included the words, “Best
safeguarding practices through-out”.
So I am sat in my house in October 2020, after
everything that Survivors of sexual abuse have done over the last 4 years -
especially from within football, and here I am reading that not only did the
YMCA junior football club know, the LADO , the LFA and the FA (as well as of
course local police), were all aware that an individual first arrested then
investigated and finally charged with sexual communications to what he believed
to be a 12 year old boy, and yet nobody thought about stopping him from
attending junior football matches and more significantly, possibly being
allowed to continue to watch and groom children.
The particular facility at Seafield Road which he
had access to has small changing rooms, communal toilets and a small café area.
Now as ethical decisions come they don’t come any
harder than this. I had grown up in the club and Association; my entire family
had worked there - including myself, my own children and my three brothers. My
dad had been Chairman of that football club. My Grandma had even worked
voluntarily in the 60s and 70s in the small café.
I had also managed junior sides on a voluntary
basis - alongside my paid job at the YMCA for over 10 years. Finally, I
actually knew the offender and knew him extremely well.
Do I stay quiet and say nothing? How could I do
that?
I have campaigned so hard for awareness around this
exact concern and here we are aware that so many Organisations did absolutely
nothing to stop this. I felt I had absolutely no choice than to look at the
much bigger picture. Sex Offenders have hidden within football for years and
years, and on this occasion everyone was aware and still did nothing!
Within safeguarding the NSPCC said recently that
they operate on the 4Rs - Recognise, Respond, Report and Record. I
like this and feel it’s extremely appropriate.
Was that followed by these Organisations In this
case? I certainly don’t think so.
In my eyes, safeguarding is all prevention, to
ensure we stop situations like this even arising. It Is also about raising
concerns at a very early stage and informing qualified and trained staff to
help and support you to stop concerns in relation to children before they
happen, or at the very least as soon as possible, to stop them happening again
in the future. Safeguarding Children must be the priority over everything
else.
Here we have a situation where all these highly
qualified, professional, and well-trained staff are aware that an individual
arrested, investigated and then later charged with sexual communications to
what he believed to be a 12-year-old boy, and what happened? Absolutely
nothing!
How did the best interests of the children playing
football not come before this individual? How did the safety of the children,
and the thoughts and feelings of their siblings and parents not come before
this individual? I was - and still am so angry and upset, that I was not
prepared to walk away, regardless of who this might upset.
So the following day I began writing to the
Organisations involved; some directly to decision-makers and others to the
Organisations email addresses etc. YMCA Association, YMCA football Club, LADO,
and Lancashire FA - which progressed through the FA in London very quickly, as
well as local police and National police Chiefs, my MP and even the Home
Office.
The responses came back very quickly and it soon
became apparent that everyone did do nothing to stop this, it was not
questioned, basically, the individual involved was given a free licence to go
and watch what he wanted to including Junior sports including facilities on
offer. It all boiled down to the fact that restrictions were not put in place
by authorities with the power to do so, mainly the police.
As far as I am concerned this is just a massive
kop-out! At no stage did any of these experienced and trained individuals
question whether a person arrested, and subsequently investigated and
ultimately charged, be told it would be in the best interest of both the children,
families and of course the offender himself not to attend the junior
matches.
Why not?
Also, as the YMCA has its own private facilities on
private land, they could very easily have suspended him from matches themselves
but chose not to do so.
Good safeguarding should have looked at the full
picture and made a decision that surely is a no brainer that the only person
who benefits in any way from these individuals attending junior events of any
type is the Individual themselves!
We are clearly giving the offenders the opportunity
to add names to faces to allow the offenders to look towards online grooming at
a later stage at the very least. In this particular case the crime was Sexual
Communications with what he believed to be a 12-year-old boy, the exact age
(and indeed younger) that he was watching every weekend.
If this had been happening for just one or
two Weekends, that would have been wrong; but in this case, it was for a period
of 20 months!
While the case was investigated, this went right from
arrest to his Magistrates court date. It is very common for cases to take
periods of 12 months to two years, from the arrest to attendance at Magistrates
court and many of these individuals will not have any restrictions put in
place during that time.
This however is far bigger than this one case. It
is far bigger than football. In my opinion, it will be happening all over the
Country every weekend somewhere. Cases in general of sexual offences towards
children are on the increase, with online grooming increasing at an alarming
rate.
I have been informed by Lancashire police that
after his arrest and while the case was being Investigated this individual was
not seen as a risk - even though this was a current crime, the offence took
place in January 2019. It was for sexual communication to what he believed to
be a 12-year-old boy - how much more risk do you want to expose children
to?
I am also aware that this individual had a previous
safeguarding concern reported to the YMCA, LADO the LFA and police just 12
months previous to his arrest this time in January 2019. On that occasion, it
was decided that no further action was needed. So this time it was a further
safeguarding concern and still no restrictions were put in place and he was
welcomed to Junior games by everyone!
I honestly have no words!
I have yet to find a single adult who when I have
asked how they would feel about these individuals being stood watching their
children play, to come back and say it would be fine and they would have no
concerns at all. Most of the responses that I have received are not even
printable.
During this period I understand the individuals
have not been found guilty of any crime, but safeguarding children must take
priority over everything and at the end of the day, it would also safeguard the
individuals themselves. If anyone at the venue was to find out they may be
extremely upset, and shall we just say may cause a scene at the very
least.
At this stage (December 12th 2020) I have had some very positive movement for
change which is extremely hopeful. The FA are looking at advice, guidance and
support offered to clubs in this type of situation moving forward. The LADO
have done their own investigation, which unfortunately I will not be
informed of the outcome. I have also contacted the NSPCC Child Protection in
Sport Unit and they are also looking at the issue and again looking at
recommendations of advice, guidance and support to every sport and all clubs
moving forward in such cases.
The National Police Chiefs are looking at this very
carefully and are setting up “a working group to investigate how they can bridge
this obvious gap in risk management of suspected child sex abusers while they
are being investigated”.
My MP is still to get back to me to confirm whether
he will support me with this.
At this stage I feel that things had moved forward
very quickly but still feel it needs more awareness in the meantime to help
safeguard children while things are being looked at, so I have contacted ITV,
Radio News Hub and The Times, all of which were extremely supportive and have
raised awareness in the media - for which I am very grateful. Thank you all.
To watch the Granada Reports interview please
simply click on this link
Ultimately, no matter what I am told I will
continue to campaign until things change. Under no circumstances must these
Organisation’s actions become the norm. Best safeguarding practises should
always come back to the safety and best interests of the children and families
and in which case these individuals must have restrictions put in place while
Investigations are ongoing.
Also remember in this particular case, certain
Individuals from the Organisations were aware that this individual was
attending junior football matches, as he had previous involvement with the club.
In most cases however, a person under investigation may not be known to anyone
at the clubs or involved with that sport etc. and may just be stood watching,
so in cases such as these - restrictions must be put in place by police to
leave the individuals in no doubt that they must not attend any junior
sporting or non-sporting facilities where children frequent while under
investigation or until the outcome of their case.
I do hope everyone who reads this will add their
support in whatever way they can. I understand it a subject that yet again
nobody wants to talk about, but needs must!
As soon as I was made aware of this concern I did
something about it, I questioned it. Why did nobody else ?
I do hope that all the individuals that had any
part of the decision making process to allow this individual to continue to
watch junior football for a period of up to 20 months have a very good hard
look at themselves at this time. On this occasion I would simply say, “You
failed in your responsibilities to safeguard children”. Do not blame somebody
else!
To all offenders of childhood sexual abuse I would
simply say, When you are caught and eventually you will be, I hope the period
of pleasure you got from your offence is worth the shame that you will now have
to live with for the rest of your life.
To police forces up and down the Country, please
revert to imposing, bail restrictions whilst an individual is under
investigation, as opposed to the process of suspects being released under
investigation, which now appears to have become the norm in more recent years.
Just to finish by saying thank you for taking the
time to read this.
Thank you again to my wife Teresa for putting up
with me and again supporting me, not only for the last 7 years but also for the
last 2 months while I have been driving myself mad fighting to make change.
This is only the second blog I have ever written -
the first being My Truth about my fight to get Barry Bennell convicted in
2015 and start a process which has brought 100s more survivors forward within
football, which you can find and read for free at @DavidLeanLeano as my pinned
tweet on Twitter. Or simply click on this link. Warning, it does detail
childhood sexual abuse.
https://aitpi.blogspot.com/2020/04/david-lean-my-truth-it-was-always-in.html?spref=tw&m=1
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