It has been reported that a Premier League football coach séxually
abused youth players in the club’s changing rooms after training
sessions.
Court reports revealed that 35-year-old Mark O’Shea is being accused
of grooming two boys while working as a youth academy boss for West
Bromwich Albion FC.
The coach would watch the youngsters bathe after training and touched two players séxually while they were drying themselves.
On one occasion he even used a towel to blindfold one junior player
and then picked up another nakéd after coming out of the showers, jurors
were told.
The jury of five men and seven women were played a DVD of the boy’s
police interview from April 2012 where he explained that the séxual
touching had happened 'several times.'
He said: 'When we are having showers, I came out and there’s a heater and I’m going to dry myself and he comes to help me.
'Sometimes when I’ve finished and coming out, he puts the towel around me like a blindfold and picks me up when I’m not dressed.
'Sometimes he is trying to get me to stay longer and dry myself longer. It’s annoying.
'He looks like he knows what he is doing because when he hears a noise he stops and goes and checks.
'Sometimes I say I will have a shower at home but he will say have a shower so you don’t sweat in the car.
'Sometimes when you’re having a shower he comes in to the shower and looks.'
Giving evidence from a separate interview room at the court the boy said O’Shea would ask him if he wanted to 'play blindfold.'
He added: 'When I used to come out the showers he used to be behind me - he used to pick me up and play blindfold.
'He used to be at the back of me when I was drying myself.
'I thought he didn’t know what he was doing and then he kept doing it so I told my mum.
'I told her not to say anything because I was worried I might get released [from the club].'
The court also heard from a teenager, who is also a footballer at the
West Bromwich Albion academy, and said O'Shea encouraged him to shower
naked.
Giving evidence this afternoon, the witness, who did not himself
claim to be abused by O'Shea, said: 'Sometimes he's sitting, waiting for
us to finish [in the showers].
'He says sometimes when you're showering you can shower naked if you want to.
'At one point I just had a shower and I was drying myself and because
I've got abs we went over to the mirror and we was counting them.
'His hands were on my shoulder and that made me feel uncomfortable.'
He worked for the club for five years and denies six charges of séxual assault on a child under 13 years of age.
The trial, which is expected to last for five days, continues
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