Man goes on trial accused of sexually abusing boys at Glasgow football grounds

A pensioner has gone on trial accused of sexually abusing boys at a football ground and training facility.

James Torbett, known as Jim, faces 12 charges of abusing six boys, aged from four to 17 on the dates in question, one of whom has since died.

The alleged abuse spans from 1970 to 1994 and is said to have taken place at various locations including Barrowfield Football Ground in London Road and Scotstoun Football Training Facility, both Glasgow.

Abuse is also alleged to have occured at a a further football training facility in Bristol, school premises in Scotland, at a dormitories in France and Belgium, at factory premises in Shawbridge Street in Glasgow, at locations in Blackpool and London and in motor vehicles.

The 71-year-old from Glasgow denies all the charges against him, which include inducing boys to perform sexual acts and placing money in the mouth of one alleged victim.

Torbett is also accused of grabbing hold of the private parts of a boy aged between four and six and threatening him, and on another occasion making him perform oral sex.

He is further accused of removing the clothes and underwear of a boy aged 11 or 12 at Barrowfield Football Ground and watching him and two other boys enter the showers.

He has lodged a defence of abili for one charge, of sexually abusing the same boy in a vehicle on the M8 motorway in Glasgow between dates in 1985 and 1986, claiming to have been in New York on that occasion.

The trial at the High Court in Glasgow heard agreed evidence that the police seized mobile phones from Torbett and one alleged victim in May last year, which have now been forensically examined.

The court also heard the alleged victim who has since died provided six statements to the police.

The trial, before Judge Tom Hughes, continues on Tuesday.

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