Youth football coach ‘abused 24 teenage trainees over 25 years’, a court heard
The jury heard how the young football hopefuls were groomed to impress the 'Kingmaker' who wielded supreme power over their footballing futures
A YOUTH football coach abused 24 teenage trainees over 25 years, a court heard yesterday.
Robert Higgins, 66, was a predatory paedophile who used his “God-like power” over the boys to molest them, it is alleged.
He carried out a widespread, systemic campaign of abuse at training sessions, in his car and at his home from the 1970s to the 1990s, it is claimed.
Victims were groomed to impress the “Kingmaker” coach who held supreme power over their footballing futures, the jury was told.
Higgins also gained the trust of their parents who allowed him to take boys away on overnight training camps, it is alleged.
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Bournemouth crown court heard Higgins abused boys at Southampton FC and later Peterborough United.
Higgins, of Southampton, denies 51 indecent assaults. Retrial goes on.
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