Call for law change to allow predatory ex-football coach to be tried for further offences

A lawyer representing alleged victims of predatory paedophile Bob Higgins is calling for the law to be changed to allow the ex-football coach to be tried for further offences.

The 66-year-old (pictured) was jailed on Wednesday for 24 years and three months at Winchester Crown Court for 46 offences of indecent assault against 24 teenage boys between 1971 and 1996.

But a previous trial in 1991 involving six complainants, including former Southampton footballer Dean Radford, collapsed after Higgins was acquitted of one charge against one of the alleged victims.

Now three of these complainants have tasked solicitor Dino Nocivelli to request that the Government changes the law to enable Higgins to be tried again on these charges.

Currently, double jeopardy laws mean that a defendant can only be tried again for offences when “compelling new evidence” has emerged and on the most serious offences such as murder.

Mr Nocivelli has written to Justice Secretary David Gauke asking him to amend these regulations to include child abuse.

He said: “Over 100 people have come forward and he was convicted in relation to 24 of these which amounts to compelling new evidence.

“The exceptions to the double jeopardy law are only the most severe of crimes but child abuse is serious and should be exempted.

“These guys deserve justice as much as anyone else.”

Mr Nocivelli has said that he was acting on behalf of a number of victims of Higgins who are preparing a civil action against Southampton and Peterborough United football clubs where he ran the youth training programmes.

He said: “The clubs, in their view, bear a responsibility as they had a duty of care, they employed him to do a job and during that job he abused them.”

Hampshire Constabulary has apologised to the six players over its handling of the case in the 1990s after one complainant said he had not been notified by police of any investigation and only found out in 2016 that his charges could not be pursued because they formed part of the original trial.

The ex-Premier League footballer told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme: “To be let down again by the system was devastating and all I felt was anger.

“I have not and will never get a feeling of closure because (Higgins) has never been found guilty for the crimes he committed against us six players.”

Assistant Chief Constable Ben Snuggs, of Hampshire police, said: “Unfortunately, complaints made by some victims in the 1990s weren’t treated in the same way as they would be today.

“I am genuinely sorry that some who did come forward did not get the justice they deserved when they originally raised concerns about Bob Higgins in the 1990s. I recognise that this will have been upsetting.”

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: “The law prevents us from trying certain matters again, but we were able to use the evidence of two of the complainants from the original trials to demonstrate Bob Higgins’s propensity to commit these offences – this without doubt helped to secure his recent conviction.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Child sexual abuse is a heinous crime which has no place in our society.

“The Court of Appeal can order the retrial of somebody who has been acquitted of certain crimes, including murder and rape. That can happen if particular circumstances apply, for example if there is compelling new evidence of guilt.

“The double jeopardy rule exists to ensure that once justice is served, an acquitted defendant cannot be unnecessarily subjected to additional prosecutions.”

Both Southampton and Peterborough United football clubs have apologised to the victims and said they have launched investigations into the circumstances.

Boris Johnson urged to apologise for ‘spaffing’ comment

An alleged victim of paedophile Bob Higgins has demanded an apology from Boris Johnson, after the Tory leadership hopeful said that money was being wasted on historical sex assault investigations.

The 66-year-old ex-football coach was jailed on Wednesday for 24 years and three months at Winchester Crown Court, for 46 offences of indecent assault against 24 teenage boys between 1971 and 1996.

Ex-Southampton player Dean Radford, who gave evidence as a witness to the trial, described the comments made by the Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP as “disgusting and despicable”.

When asked about historical police investigations, Mr Johnson said on an LBC radio show in March: “You know, £60m I saw was being spaffed up a wall on some investigation into historic child abuse and all this kind of thing.

“What on earth is that going to do to protect the public now?”

Speaking on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show, Mr Radford said: “I’m just amazed he hasn’t (apologised for use of ‘spaffing’). I’m just amazed, he’s been called out on it, there’s no explanation why somebody would use that sort of language.

“It’s derogatory towards all the survivors out there, all the people who have been trying to get justice and lots of people who haven’t yet got justice.

“How is that going to encourage people to speak forward as well?

“It’s just despicable behaviour, I just cannot give any explanation.

“An apology is definitely something which should have come. It should have come as soon as he said it.”

Mr Johnson’s campaign team has been approached for comment.

Mr Radford, who waived his right to anonymity, was a complainant at a trial against Higgins in the early 1990s, during which the coach was acquitted, but his evidence was used in the recent trials which led to Higgins being convicted and jailed.

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