English ex-football coach convicted of 43 sex-abuse charges

Barry Bennell shook his head and muttered to himself as the final guilty verdicts were read out, seemingly unrepentant until the end.

In a harrowing court case lasting nearly five weeks, the former soccer coach had forced a group of men to detail the sexual abuse they suffered as boys – then aspiring players – while in his supposed care and had to live with through adulthood.

Decades later, and now aged 64, Bennell was being made to pay for crimes that have sent shock waves through British soccer. Still, though, he was in denial.

Hushed cries of “yes” came from the public gallery where six of the victims sat with family members, as an 11-person jury returned guilty verdicts on Thursday to the remaining seven sex charges brought against Bennell by a complainant.

He was found guilty on Tuesday of 36 charges of sex abuse against 10 complainants. Before the trial started, he pleaded guilty to seven charges of indecent assault involving three boys but denied the remainder.