Bob Higgins: Former Southampton coach found guilty of 45 sexual assaults against teenage boys
Ex-youth team leader would ‘target vulnerable victims’ under his tutelage, court hears
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Former professional football coach Bob Higgins has been found guilty of 45 charges of indecent assault against teenage boys.
The 66-year-old, once a youth team coach at Southampton and Peterborough United, showed no emotion at Bournemouth Crown Court as he was convicted of offences against 23 different victims over a 25-year period.
Higgins used “typical grooming behaviour” targeting vulnerable victims, according to the senior prosecutor responsible for bringing the case to court.
Claire Booth, of the specialist rape and sexual offences (Raso) unit of the Wessex Crown Prosecution Service, said Higgins was regarded by many as a “star-maker”, which helped him gain the trust of young players and their families.
She said: “He, we say, would target vulnerable victims or those he perceived to be vulnerable, he gained their trust, he gained the trust of their family members, he was very much liked by the victims and their families, they trusted him with their careers and they really felt that he held their future in his hands.
“He was able to use that power to manipulate these victims into behaving in certain ways to satisfy his own needs.”
Detective Chief Inspector Dave Brown, of Hampshire Constabulary, said Higgins was able to get away with offending for such a long period because he was acquitted at trial in the early 1990s involving former professional footballer Dean Radford, whose allegation was used as witness evidence in the latest trial.
He said: “The timespan that this case covered was 1971 through to 1996. Bob Higgins was subjected to a police investigation in 1990 when a number of victims came forward, six victims came forward and provided accounts to police.”
Mr Brown said it “allowed [Higgins] to return to a position where he could continue to coach young people in a football scenario.”
The detective chief inspector explained police became involved in the case against Higgins following an episode of the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire Show in November 2016 looking at abuse in football, which led to the force receiving 87 referrals from a NSPCC phone line with a further 32 people contacting them directly.
He added he believed there could be further victims of Higgins who have not yet come forward and urged them to make contact.
Mr Brown said: “If now is the time that you or any other person who may well have been subject to non-recent abuse in the past wishes to come forward, then we are in a position to provide support to you in order to help engage with you at this difficult time in your life.”
Southampton legend Matt Le Tissier was one of the stars coached by Higgins. He told the BBC in a 2016 interview he had been given a “naked massage” by Higgins. Le Tissier said he did not think he was abused but the incident was “very, very wrong”.
Ms Booth explained that although Higgins used typical grooming behaviour he was not charged with this as a specific offence because the legislation did not exist at the time of the offences.
She said: “As we have heard from a number of victims and witnesses in this case, Mr Higgins’ behaviour would today probably be considered grooming ... he was a predatory paedophile who manipulated a number of boys.
“We had a large number of victims who were able to give us background information about Mr Higgins and his behaviour. These offences are non-recent and the grooming offences only came into force in 2004 so Mr Higgins could only be charged under the legislation that was in force at the time he committed the offences.”
The jury found Higgins not guilty of five other counts of indecent assault and were unable to reach a verdict on the final count. He was previously convicted at an earlier trial of an offence against one other victim.
Higgins will be sentenced at a later date at Winchester Crown Court.
Additional reporting by PA