Gary Speed, the former Wales manager, was one of four players from junior football teams coached by Barry Bennell who later died by suicide, a court has heard. Speed hanged himself in November 2011 at age 42, and a victim of Bennell told Liverpool Crown Court that he knew of other boys from the same teams who had been left destitute, suicidal, or addicted to drugs or alcohol.
The victim, who cannot be named, said he wanted to contact Speed’s parents because media reports indicated they had not found closure due to a lack of explanation for their son’s death. “Four people from teams I have played with, with Bennell, have taken their own lives,” he told the jury. “Whether they have taken their lives due to Barry solely I don’t know but all I know is how it’s had an impact on me.”
On the same day, another former player alleged that two key Manchester City staff members, including chief scout Ken Barnes, knew he was being abused but did nothing. The complainant, now in his 40s, said he believed Barnes was aware of Bennell’s actions but failed to intervene. He also named Mike Grimsley, a former youth-team coach at City, as someone he suspected knew of the abuse during a four-year ordeal in the 1980s when the victim was aged 11 to 15.
The victim, described as “one of Barry’s favourites,” said he wanted the club to accept responsibility. “I want an apology off Manchester City,” he told the jury. Barnes died in 2010 aged 81; his family has previously stated he did not know about the abuse. Grimsley, approached by the Guardian in 2016, said he was “shocked by it all” and unaware of Bennell’s crimes.
Bennell, 64, has admitted one charge relating to the latest former City player but pleaded not guilty to six other counts, including attempted buggery. In total, he has pleaded guilty to seven charges involving three boys and denied 48 counts of sexual offences against 11 alleged victims from 1979 to 1991. The trial continues.
