independent– Paedophile former football coach Barry Bennell has told a High Court judge in London about the “guilt” he felt and said abused boys deserved compensation.
Bennell, who is in jail after being convicted of child sex offences, told Mr Justice Johnson he had “lost control of everything” and was “used to that now”.
He said was getting on with his life in jail, for the rest of his life.
Bennell was giving evidence in a trial at the High Court in London, where eight men, who say they were abused by Bennell, are suing Manchester City.
He said he had been visited in prison by one of his victims some years ago. The victim wanted to sue a football club Bennell had worked at and wanted him to sign a statement.
Bennell told the judge that “because of the guilt” he felt, he had told the man he would “sign anything”.
The eight men, now in their 40s and 50s, say Bennell abused them when they were playing schoolboy football for teams he coached in north-west England between 1979 and 1985.
They claim that Bennell, who became a coach at Crewe Alexandra in 1985, was a scout for City during that time, and argue that the relationship between Bennell and City was “one of employment or one akin to employment”.
City bosses deny that claim. They say Bennell was a local City scout in the mid-1970s but not between 1979 and 1985.
Bennell has also denied being linked to City during the 1980s. He says he was not a City scout at the time the men claim they were abused.
