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Bob Higgins trial: ex-footballer 'attacked man who resembled alleged abuser' Bob Higgins kept coaching boys for seven years after abuse claim, court told
(about 4 hours later)
A talented footballer was jailed after holding a knife to a man’s throat because he resembled Bob Higgins, the former Southampton football club youth coach accused of sexually abusing him and a string of other schoolboy players, a jury heard.
Billy Seymour, a former professional footballer, used drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism after being abused by Higgins, and about 25 years later attacked a taxi driver whose eyes and smell reminded him of his former coach, telling his parents: “He’s inside me,” Salisbury crown court heard. A football coach on trial for a string of alleged sexual assaults on schoolboy players was able to continue working with children for seven years after a teenager made a formal abuse complaint about him, a jury has been told.
Higgins, 65, who also worked at Peterborough United and ran his own football academy, denies 50 counts of indecent assault against 24 boys between 1971 and 1996. Bob Higgins left Southampton FC, where he helped launch the careers of a number of stars, after a young player told a senior figure at the club in 1989 that the coach had sexually abused him.
Adam Feest QC, prosecuting, has described Higgins as a “kingmaker” who helped boys to national and international careers, but claimed he was also a predatory paedophile who used his “supreme power” to carry out a campaign of sexual abuse over a quarter of a century. But Higgins went on to set up his own football academy, work with the Maltese FA and take up a post working with youngsters at a second professional club, Peterborough United. He allegedly abused boys there before leaving in 1996.
Feest told the jury that Seymour stood out as being most affected by the alleged abuse. Seymour has waived his right to anonymity. The jury also heard a claim on Thursday that a traumatised ex junior footballer Higgins had abused while he was at Southampton was jailed after holding a knife to a man’s throat because he resembled the coach.
Despite offers from Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, Seymour joined Southampton’s school of excellence aged 12 in the mid-1980s because of Higgins’ skill and reputation, the court heard. Billy Seymour, a former professional footballer, used drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism after being abused by Higgins, and attacked a taxi driver whose eyes and smell reminded him of his former coach, telling his parents: “He’s inside me,” Salisbury crown court heard.
Higgins groomed Seymour, the jury was told, and the boy came to idolise him. Higgins began driving him to training and, with Whitney Houston love songs playing on the stereo, would touch Seymour intimately and get him to rest his head in his lap, it is claimed. Higgins, 65, denies 50 counts of indecent assault against 24 boys between 1971 and 1996.
It is alleged that when Seymour stayed at Higgins’ home, the coach would touch and kiss him, describing what was happening as “a beautiful thing”. Higgins, a married man, allegedly told the boy he loved him and Seymour says he can still remember the smell of his aftershave. Adam Feest QC, prosecuting, said Higgins was a “kingmaker” who helped boys to national and international careers, but claimed he was also a predatory paedophile who used his “supreme power” to carry out a campaign of sexual abuse against his “puppies”.
Feest told the jury: “Billy’s feelings for the defendant were very complicated. He told police that whilst he would not say he had fallen in love with the defendant, he did have a lot of love for him.” Higgins allegedly abused boys on training camps, at the home he shared with his wife, in his car and on ferries heading to cup competitions in Sweden.
After one incident in which Higgins allegedly summoned Seymour into his bed, the boy felt “like his head was going to explode”. Seymour was also allegedly abused on a ferry to Sweden, where many boys were taken to play in a competition called the Gothia Cup. Feest told the jury how a young footballer, Dean Radford, came forward in 1989 to make a formal complaint to a senior Southampton FC figure, Dave Merrington, that he had been abused by Higgins.
Feest claimed the defendant was infatuated with Seymour. When the boy told Higgins he was going to train elsewhere, Higgins got on his knees and told the boy he loved him, it is claimed. Higgins was put on trial over the Radford allegations in the early 1990s but was found not guilty. Allegations made by “a few” other complainants were dropped.
By the early 90s, Seymour was misusing drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism. In 2010 Seymour called his parents and told them he was “lost” and going to prison. He said he had held a plasterer’s knife to the throat of a taxi driver because the man’s eyes looked like Higgins. He said the man “smelled like Bob” and told them: “He’s inside me.” Feest said by 1990 Higgins left Southampton but he returned to coaching at a professional level with Peterborough in 1994 as the under-16 youth manager.
Feest described another footballer, Dean Radford, as the catalyst for many other complainants who came forward. “Once again he had access to young boys in awe of him and he used this opportunity for his own gratification,” said Feest.
Radford began playing for Southampton aged about 14 in 1984-85. Once when Radford was injured at a training camp Higgins told him to lie face down on a treatment bed and take his shorts off, it is claimed. The defendant allegedly indecently assaulted him. Higgins told complainant V that he would not make it as a footballer if he did not come to his house in Southampton at weekends for extra training. V barely returned home for the next six months.
Radford’s allegations came to light in 1989 when Dave Merrington, a senior figure at Southampton, heard jokes and comments about the defendant. Radford told Merrington what he claimed had been happening and Merrington confronted Higgins. Higgins began to indecently assault V and once told him that he thought he would do anything to get a professional contract – even perform oral sex on him, though this did not happen, the court heard.
Higgins was put on trial over the Radford allegations in the early 1990s but was found not guilty. Allegations made by “a few” other complainants were subsequently dropped. The court was told Radford was not a complainant in the current case but Feest said his allegations were strikingly similar to what the alleged victims who have now come forward say happened to them. Another young Peterborough player, W, claimed he was also sexually assaulted by Higgins. Though he was a youth international he was allegedly “marginalised” after telling Higgins he was doing wrong. H felt “alienation, physical and mental torture” before being released by Higgins.
Feest told the jury that Billy Seymour stood out as being most affected by the alleged abuse. Seymour has waived his right to anonymity.
Higgins groomed Seymour, the jury was told, and the boy came to idolise him. The defendant began driving him to training and, with Whitney Houston love songs playing on the stereo, would touch Seymour intimately and get him to rest his head in his lap, it is claimed. After one incident in which Higgins allegedly summoned Seymour into his bed, the boy felt “like his head was going to explode”.
By the early 1990s, Seymour was misusing drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism, the jury heard. In 2010 Seymour called his parents and told them he was “lost” and going to prison. He said he had held a plasterer’s knife to the throat of a taxi driver because the man reminded him of his old coach.
The trial continues.The trial continues.
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