Metropolitan police to investigate sexual abuse claims at London clubs | Football

The Metropolitan police has launched an investigation into historical sexual abuse claims involving London football clubs, becoming the 21st force across the country to have begun similar inquiries into teams in their areas.

Britain’s largest police force said specialist officers would look into allegations of “non-recent” crimes, but refused to say which clubs it was investigating.

“We take all the allegations we receive very seriously and they will be dealt with sensitively,” said DCS Ivan Balhatchet of the Met’s sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command. “Anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, whatever the circumstances, or has any relevant information should contact their local police or the NSPCC.”

Football sex abuse scandal: how the story unfolded

According to police, more than 350 potential victims have come forward since the former Crewe defender Andy Woodward waived his right to anonymity to reveal in an interview with the Guardian that he had been a ­victim of sexual abuse

Gary Johnson, the former player who was paid £50,000 by Chelsea not to go public with allegations that he was abused by their former chief scout Eddie Heath, has said that a personal apology from the club’s board, delivered in person on Wednesday, was “too little, too late”.

Johnson was a member of Chelsea’s first team from 1978 to 1981 after joining the club as an 11-year-old in 1970. The 57-year-old spoke out recently to say he was groomed from the age of 13 by Heath, who was chief scout from 1968 to 1979 and is now dead. Chelsea’s insurers paid £50,000 in compensation, without liability, in return for a confidentiality clause.

Johnson told the BBC that the £50,000 he received was “not enough for the pain and suffering I’ve had”, adding: “It [the abuse] took away my childhood â€" I can never get that back.”

In Holyrood, Nicola Sturgeon resisted calls for the inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in Scotland to be widened to include football clubs, after the Scottish Labour leader, Kezia ­Dugdale, pressed her during first minister’s ­questions about revelations of abuse in Scottish clubs.

The first minister said: “My view is we should allow that inquiry to get on with its job and we should allow the police to get on with their job of investigating allegations of abuse in football.”

Earlier, a former chief ­executive of the Scottish Football Association called for a separate inquiry as the revel­ations across the UK continued to mount. Gordon Smith told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland that an investigation into how clubs and national bodies had responded to allegations was needed.

“There should be an inquiry, an inquiry into anybody who knew anything about this sort of thing,” he said. “If this was happening at a club, what action did they take? We’re now finding out some of the cases down in England where the club tried to hush the situation, even paid a player money to not say anything about it.”

The SFA has said it is part of a task force set up to coordinate complaints and information relating to child sexual abuse within football and that it is passing on all information it receives to Police Scotland.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Premiership club Patrick Thistle have admitted firing one of their employees in 1992 over abuse claims. The club disclosed that a former physiotherapist, named as John Hart, who died in 1995, was dismissed after the allegations came to light more than 20 years ago.

In a statement, the club denied any cover-up, stating: “The current board and management knew nothing of this until an internal investigation uncovered it in the last few days. As a result, the club informed the SFA and Police Scotland.”

This follows revelations concerning a former youth coach for Celtic, Hibernian and Falkirk football clubs, who was on Wednesday charged with a child sex offence and has been remanded in custody.

Jim McCafferty, who worked in football across the central belt of Scotland and in Ireland from the 1980s, was arrested in Belfast on Tuesday after presenting himself at a police station. He was charged with engaging in sexual activity with a child aged 13-16 between December 2011 and December 2014.

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