Football club sacks convicted rapist manager

Sam Wilson pictured after his arrest in 2013

A football club appointed a convicted rapist as its manager before sacking him three days later.

Sam Wilson was jailed for five years in 2015 for forcing himself on a woman after she had consensual sex with his friend.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for life.

Warrington Rylands FC said in a social media post on Tuesday that it had terminated Wilson's contract by "mutual consent".

"No further comment will be made by the club", it added.

The 32-year-old, who had been a player at Rylands since 2021, stepped up to become interim manager in February.

His appointment was made permanent on Saturday on a two-year contract.

Sam Wilson was jailed for five years

Rylands, which competes in the Northern Premier League at the seventh tier of English football, did not reply when asked by the BBC whether Mr Wilson's conviction was related to his departure.

Mr Wilson confirmed his contract had been terminated in a phone call to the BBC.

Asked why, he added: "You would have to take that up with the club."

He ended the call when asked if the situation was related to his 2015 conviction.

Mr Wilson had been appointed as interim co-manager, alongside fellow senior squad member Dean Furman, after previous manager Michael Clegg left to join Macclesfield.

Rylands had been in a rich vein of form since February, securing a play off place with six wins in nine games.

'Distress'

Mr Wilson was convicted at Manchester Crown Court two years after the rape at a flat his friend had rented for the night in Laystall Street, Manchester.

The victim, who was 21 at the time, had met his friend at a city centre nightclub and went back to the flat.

After she had consensual sex with his friend, Mr Wilson, who a court heard had never spoken to the woman and did not know her name, entered the room and raped her.

She fled the scene in "distress" and contacted Greater Manchester Police.

Speaking in 2015, Det Con Sophie Swift, from GMP’s Serious Sexual Offences Unit, praised the victim for her "bravery" in "facing down her attacker" as a witness in court.