Barry Bennell: Abuse would have confused victims, court told

Eight men are suing Manchester City, asserting Barry Bennell was a scout for the club when he abused them

The victims of paedophile football coach Barry Bennell would have been confused by what was happening to them, a psychiatrist has told the High Court.

Dr Andrew Mogg said Bennell's abuse would have left "a mix of emotions" as the boys "hero-worshipped" him.

He said the boys would have been "sexually naive" and would not have understood "what was going on".

Eight men are suing Manchester City, asserting Bennell was a club scout when he abused them, which the club denies.

The judge has heard that Bennell, who lived near Buxton in Derbyshire at the time of the abuse, had abused young footballers he coached after inviting them to stay at his home.

Bennell is now serving a 34-year jail term after being convicted of sexual offences against boys on five separate occasions - four in the UK and one in the US.

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Giving evidence, Dr Mogg told Mr Justice Johnson that "because these claimants were sexually naive, they didn't really know what was going on".

"It would have been quite a mix of emotions," he said.

"The whole nature of the abuse was very likely to have caused a great deal of confusion.

"Some of these boys hero-worshipped this man [and] they wanted to be in the team [but] at the same time, he was abusing them."

Mr Justice Johnson has heard the men, now in their 40s and 50s, were sexually and emotionally abused by Bennell in the North West of England between 1979 and 1985.

The men are claiming damages after suffering psychiatric injuries. Six are also claiming damages for loss of potential football earnings.

Manchester City has said Bennell was a local scout in the mid-1970s, but was not a scout at the time of the offences.

The trial continues.

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