BBC whips up a neat negative article today ... a month after the story broke

[der Berliner 3,286]

Former football youth scout arrested on sex charges

 

A former youth football scout has been arrested by police investigating allegations of historical sex abuse.

 

Harry Dunn worked for clubs including Chelsea, Liverpool and Rangers.

 

Police said an 84-year-old man was arrested and charged with a number of "non-recent sexual offences".

 

Last year, Police Scotland was among forces across the UK to launch investigations into allegations of child abuse within football after reports from high-profile players.

 

Mr Dunn is understood to have worked with Liverpool and Rangers in the 1980s and later with Chelsea.

 

It is thought he now lives in Edinburgh.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-39379347

 

COPS PROBE ABUSE CLAIMS Ex-footie starlet claims former Rangers coach Harry Dunn got him drunk and tried to rape him at Edinburgh flat

 

Former Ibrox youth player Darren Mixon claims he looked at Dunn as an ‘Uncle’ when he was pinned down on a bed by 25-stone scout for the sex attack

Exclusive BY MARCELLO MEGA 18th February 2017, 10:17 pm Updated: 19th February 2017, 2:41 am

 

A SECOND former Rangers youth scout is being probed by cops on sex abuse claims, we can reveal.

 

Ex-Ibrox starlet Darren Mixon says Harry Dunn, now 84, got him drunk and tried to rape him aged 16 in his flat.

 

Darren, 49, of Edinburgh, claims he looked at Dunn as an ‘Uncle’ when he was pinned down on a bed by 25-stone coach for the sex attack.

 

Brave Darren waived his right to anonymity to go public after contacting cops over his claims — the most serious accusations so far of abuse in Scottish football against a suspect still alive.

 

Darren said scout Dunn, then 51, lured him to his Edinburgh city centre pad after a boozy “celebration” of his star performance at a youth tournament in Belgium.

 

He said: “I had at least six pints to drink and as I was only 16 and weighed less than ten stone I was very drunk. I saw the settee when we went in and assumed I’d be sleeping there and just flaked out.

 

“After a bit Harry called out and said ‘just come through, you’ll be comfier in here’.

 

“It never crossed my mind I would be at risk — I thought of him as Uncle Harry.

 

“He was always joking and laughing with us.

 

“When I went to the bedroom, I don’t recall a slow build-up. He pushed me down on the bed and turned me so I was face down.”

 

Darren went on: “Eventually he gave up, turned me back round to face him and flopped on top of me.

 

“He must have been 25 stone — his belly was pinning me down and his shoulders and arms were holding my arms at my side.”

 

The Scottish Sun on Sunday has seen a sworn affidavit he gave lawyers outlining the alleged assault in 1984. The full details are too upsetting to publish.

 

The alleged attack came after Darren scored the only goal against Anderlecht in the semi-finals of the tournament in 1984. His Rangers side lost to Italian giants Inter Milan in the final.

 

Dunn, 84, worked for Gers, Liverpool and Chelsea after being introduced to scouting by his pal, former Ibrox manager Jock Wallace, who he later followed to Leicester City.

 

Hibs boss Neil Lennon revealed in his autobiography that when he was 13, Dunn took him and his dad to Ibrox where they had a tour and met Wallace.

 

Plant hire worker Darren has made three statements to police about his assault claims.

 

He said he kept quiet about it at the time as he felt “humiliated” — but told a pal in 1992 when he learned Dunn was still scouting and escorting young boys around the country.

 

Friend Tam Smith, formerly a cop and now a social worker, persuaded him to report the attack at St Leonard’s police station in Edinburgh. But Darren didn’t hear back from Lothian and Borders cops and decided not to talk about it again until now.

 

The dad of two believes the incident ruined his chances of football stardom and destroyed his marriage.

 

He said: “It had a massive impact on my life. I can’t say I’d have made the grade if it hadn’t happened, but I was on a high at the time and suddenly my career went backwards.

 

“And it has affected my private life too. I’m not with the mother of my children as I think I was always over-compensating, having to prove to myself I was attractive to women.

 

“It took an awful lot to go to the police in 1992, but I thought it was the right thing to do.

 

“I’d met a lad from Ireland who was going to be taken to Chelsea by Harry and I realised he was vulnerable, as was any boy trusted to Harry. When the cops didn’t get back to me, I felt humiliated all over again.”

 

Tam, now a leader at Hutchison Vale Boys Club in Edinburgh, has also given a statement about his part in reporting the matter in 1992. Darren spoke out after reading our probe into footie abuse and revelations about former Rangers, Hibs and Dundee United coach Gordon Neely.

 

We told how Ibrox chiefs sacked the serial abuser in 1990 after a complaint by a youth player and his cop dad.

 

Darren said: “What I read about Neely sickened me. I felt for his victims that they couldn’t get justice.

 

“When I learned Harry was still alive, and still in the same flat where it happened, I decided he should answer for what he did to me. I felt that if there were other victims, they should get to face him in court too.”

 

During our investigation, Dunn’s name cropped up time and again as someone who aroused suspicions. One story well-known in the football world involves one of his youth discoveries smashing his windows after an alleged episode that took place in his car.

 

The player, who went on to have a high-profile career in Scotland and England, did not want to talk about what happened.

 

But Darren’s old Ibrox team-mate John Laidlaw, 49, believes Dunn also targeted him when he was 16 by trying to get him drunk.

 

Our investigation has been hampered by Dunn’s stays in hospital.

 

Before he was admitted for treatment in December, he spoke to us through the intercom at his flat. He claimed not to remember any of the players who accuse him of abuse.

 

He said: “I don’t remember anything. I’m nearly 85 and I’ve got a heart condition. I’ll soon be dead.”

 

Police Scotland could not explain why the Lothian and Borders force took no action but confirmed they are investigating Darren’s claims about Dunn.

 

A spokesman said: “We are investigating a non-recent sexual offence that was reported on December 12, 2016.” A Rangers spokesperson said: “The club is unaware of specific allegations but will cooperate fully with Police Scotland and other relevant authorities.”

 

Cops have been swamped by reports of footie abuse since the scandal exploded last year. The SFA launched a probe after clubs including Rangers, Celtic, Motherwell and Hibs were caught up in it.

 

In December, we told how former youth player Colin Anderson, 49, branded Neely the “Jimmy Savile of football” and claimed he was raped aged 13 at Hutchison Vale.

 

And ex-starlet John Laidlaw told how he was in a Hutchison Vale team the predator took to stay at a YMCA where naked men lured youngsters with Yorkies.

 

After we revealed Gers sacked Neely, police said: “We have received reports in connection with non-recent child abuse within football.”

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2900398/ex-footie-starlet-claims-former-rangers-coach-harry-dunn-got-him-drunk-and-tried-to-rape-him-at-edinburgh-flat/

 

And what do both scribblers fail to note? When Rangers found out, we sacked him and told the police.

 

Yet, on the other side of the Clyde, at Penn State FC ...

Edited March 24, 2017 by der Berliner