Ex-football coach Bob Higgins was 'predatory paedophile', court told

A former Southampton FC youth football coach was a “predatory paedophile” who used his power as one of the sport’s “kingmakers” to carry out a 25-year campaign of sexual abuse against boys as young as 11, a jury has been told.

Bob Higgins was seen as a “godlike” figure who coached players who went on to achieve national and international success but he was also a serial abuser of young teenagers, Bournemouth crown court heard on Tuesday.

Higgins, 66, who also worked at Peterborough United and for the Maltese FA, as well as running his own football academy, denies 51 counts of indecent assault against 24 boys between the early 1970s and mid-1990s. The alleged assaults are said to have taken place in a variety of settings including training camps and Higgins’ home and car.

One boy, who can only be identified as “X”, was allegedly indecently assaulted at least 50 times between the ages of 13 and 16 when he stayed overnight at Higgins’ home. The abuse allegedly included Higgins forcing the teenager to take part in oral sex after the coach’s wife, Shirley, had gone to bed.

X was shocked when first asked to perform a sex act on Higgins, the court was told. But Adam Feest QC, prosecuting, said: “Fearing that if he refused the defendant would take revenge by ruining his football career, he eventually succumbed.”

Feest said: “Although he felt disgusted by the idea, the emotional pressure upon him to comply with the instructions of someone he regarded as a father figure and mentor was such that he did as he was told.”

The jury was told X finally came forward 40 years later and would tell his story in court but still had not even told his wife what occurred due to feelings of shame and confusion.

It is not the first time Higgins has been accused of offences against boys, the jury was told. He was investigated in 1990 for similar alleged offences but cleared at trial, the court heard.

Feest said police began investigating Higgins again after the former Crewe Alexandra footballer Andy Woodward came forward in 2016 to make disclosures about abuse he suffered at the hands of a coach – not Higgins – when he was younger. The NSPCC children’s charity set up a hotline to field calls from anyone who had encountered childhood sexual abuse within football.

“The telephone started to ring and one name was mentioned over and over again – that of Bob Higgins,” said Feest. Last year, Higgins was put on trial after the new allegations. He is facing a retrial, the jury was told.

Higgins had been involved with youth team training at Southampton from the mid-1970s until the late1980s. He had a spell running his own academy and spent time with the Maltese football association. He then worked with Peterborough United FC until 1996.

Feest said Higgins was a talented coach and boys turned down more prestigious clubs so they could work with him, the court heard.

The prosecutor said: “However, it is the crown’s case that during this time there was a much darker aspect to this defendant’s character and behaviour. Throughout this period, this defendant was carrying out a widespread campaign of sexual abuse against many of those in his charge.

“For some boys, he appears to have developed a real, if somewhat perverse, affectionate attachment, telling them that he loved them and getting them to display signs of affection towards him.

“Behind all this abuse lay a systematic and all-pervasive pattern of grooming behaviour. He gained the trust of the boys and of their parents. The young footballers idolised him.”

Feest said particular types of behaviour were repeatedly mentioned by the complainants, such as being sexually assaulted under the pretext of being shown a training drill or while having a massage. The alleged offences are said to have taken place in Hampshire, Kent and the north-east of England.

The trial continues.