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Celtic Boys Club manager 'stuffed banknotes in boy's mouth'


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No really folks. You have to give it to investigative BBC journalists like Mark Daly to track Torbett down and bring him to justice ... since "no-one knew" and "no-one dared"!!!

 

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Celtic Boys Club founder Jim Torbett guilty of abusing boys

  • 5 November 2018

Celtic Boys Club founder Jim Torbett has been jailed for six years after being convicted of sexually abusing three boys over an eight-year period.

Torbett, 71, was found guilty after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow. He had denied the charges.

Two victims had been in his under-14s football teams, while the third was abused by Torbett at the age of five.

Lord Beckett told Torbett: "You groomed boys and contrived situations when you could abuse them

"Yours is some of the most corrupting behaviour I have ever heard of in these courts."

He added: "Your depraved conduct towards innocent children has blighted their lives."

The judge told Torbett that Celtic Boys Club had given opportunities to hundreds of aspiring young footballers.

But he added: "You used the club as a front for child sexual abuse."

There were tears in the public gallery as the verdict was announced, and emotional scenes in the foyer of the court as those affected by the case embraced each other.

 

Torbett, of Kelvindale, Glasgow, was found guilty of five abuse charges between August 1986 and August 1994.

Torbett had previously been jailed for two years in 1998 for abusing three young Celtic Boys Club players between 1967 and 1974.

He had been living in California when the further allegations of abuse came to light.

Victim, Kenny Campbell, broke his silence in a BBC documentary, Football Abuse: The Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game.

A month after the documentary was broadcast, the BBC tracked Torbett down to California and put the claims to him in a dramatic confrontation.

 

Within hours of that footage being broadcast, Torbett was escorted to the airport by US Homeland Security and he was arrested on his return to Scotland.

During the trial, Mr Campbell told jurors how he played for Celtic Boys Club when he was 14.

He said Torbett - who was also the manager - had been his "hero" and that he would have "run through walls for him".

However, he said Torbett then went on to abuse him, including one attack while on a Celtic Boys Club trip to Noyon in France.

A second victim, Andrew Gray, died last year following a swimming pool accident in Australia.

 

However, statements he gave to police before his death were read out during the trial.

The 41-year-old had told officers he was first abused by Torbett after training, and that he had not known what was happening.

He told police: "I can still remember lying in bed that night thinking: 'Is that how adults act?'."

Mr Gray said he was also attacked in Torbett's Glasgow flat, and that he would be dropped from the team if he did not agree to his demands.

The final victim, now aged 35, told the trial how he was abused at the Trophy Centre business which Torbett ran in the Pollokshaws area of Glasgow.

He said he was attacked while on his own with Torbett.

Torbett had branded the victims "liars" and said allegations were like "something out of fairytales".

 

Outside the High Court, Mr Campbell described the verdict as "unbelievable".

Asked how he felt, he said: "Ecstatic. Relieved. Vindicated."

Mr Campbell said he was grateful to BBC journalists Mark Daly and Calum McKay for investigating Torbett.

He added: "The worst thing about being an abuse victim, a survivor, or whatever you want to call them, is the fear of not being believed.

"Even right up to the verdict was announced I had the fear that I would not be believed."

Mr Campbell, who has four grandsons, added: "I'll walk away a proud man.

"I'll know I've made a difference and I'll know it has been worthwhile.

"If I can save one person, or one child, from what I went through then it is worthwhile."

 

Mr Gray's sister, Michelle, described the moment the verdict was announced as "extremely emotional".

She added: "The last two weeks have been sheer hell and myself, my mum, my brother and Andrew's friends will be haunted by what we learned that Andrew suffered at the hands of Mr Torbett."

She added: "The man that was convicted today destroyed his life. There is no doubt about that."

Ms Gray recalled a conversation with her brother before he died.

She said: "Andrew asked me in Australia, if he didn't make it, would I do all I could to get justice, not just for him but for all the other boys.

"And that has been the reason why we have fought through the last 13 months."

She added: "Now our beloved Andrew can finally rest in peace."

'Callous and depraved'

Det Ch Insp Sarah Taylor, of the National Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: "Torbett was a predator who used football to allow him access to young boys.

"These were boys who had a dream, they wanted to play professional football. Torbett was a man in a position of trust but he betrayed that trust.

"He preyed on these boys, he exploited their dreams and he subjected them to callous and depraved abuse.

"I have no doubt that he exerted control over the boys in his care and coerced them with promises and lies."

Det Chief Insp Taylor praised the courage of the victims who helped bring Torbett to justice.

She added: "Reporting these offences and reliving the experience can be traumatic.

"We understand this and we will do everything in our power to bring investigations to the appropriate outcome."

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-46098908

 

All Hail! Hail! the BBC! ... :ph34r:

 

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All That It Takes For Evil To Succeed....

 

44 years after previous allegations of child molestation, James Torbett, founder of Celtic Boys Club, was found guilty at Glasgow High Court yesterday on 5 charges of historical child abuse ranging from 1986 to 1994.  2 of his victims were members of his under-14 team and one other a 5-year-old boy.

Owner of the Trophy Centre business based in Pollokshaws, he committed many of these sordid crimes as an employee of Celtic Football Club.

 

Full article: https://www.vanguardbears.co.uk/article.php?i=209&a=all-that-it-takes-for-evil-to-succeed----

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SIX CELTIC MANAGERS KNEW ABOUT PAEDOPHILIA AT CELTIC PARK……

…….and failed to call the police.

SIX first team managers of the eternally shamed Club Like No Other were made aware of the sexual abuse of children who played in the clubs’ youth set up.
None called the police.

Full article: https://vanguardbears518692592.wordpress.com/2018/11/06/six-celtic-managers-knew-about-paedophilia-at-celtic-park/

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Celtic FC has been criticised for its failure to comment on the conviction of paedophile Jim Torbett.

The Celtic Boys Club founder was jailed for six years on Monday after being found guilty of sexually abusing three boys over an eight-year period.

But more than 24 hours after the trial concluded Celtic FC has not responded.

The football club told the BBC last year the Boys Club was a "separate and distinct" organisation.

However decades of Celtic View magazines, and never before seen footage obtained by BBC Scotland, shows how the two clubs were intertwined.

And campaigners argue Celtic FC has a duty of care to the young footballers who wore the famous green and white hoops.

Kenny Campbell, who was one of Torbett's victims, told BBC Scotland he wants the club to say sorry.

He said: "Why not just write a letter of apology?

"Or send somebody personally to deliver a letter of apology. That is all it would take.

"It would not take hundreds of money, motors or homes or things like that.

"Just a simple 'I am sorry that happened to you.'"

'Moral situation'

Martin Henry is chairing a Scottish Football Association report into historical sex abuse.

He said: "I believe all the clubs affected by this issue should apologise to those who have been most personally affected and, indeed, their families."

Mr Henry said clubs may try to "obfuscate or dodge the issue" following legal advice and amid insurance concerns.

But he added: "My view is that the moral situation predominates and they have a duty and an obligation to issue an apology to those affected."

Janine Rennie, chief executive of Incare Survivors Service Scotland, said it was "very disappointing" that Celtic had not issued a statement following Torbett's conviction.

She also told BBC Scotland the club should not be viewed as a "separate legal entity" and should therefore compensate victims of abuse.

Ms Rennie said: "We are aware that Mr Torbett was a previous offender and had come back into Celtic so we really feel Celtic has a responsibility to say why that happened."

She said the club should also be conducting its own review into historical child abuse in the same way Manchester City launched a probe in November 2016.

'Corrupting behaviour'

Torbett, 71, was found guilty after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow. He had denied the charges.

Two victims had been in his under-14s football teams, while the third was abused by Torbett at the age of five.

Lord Beckett told Torbett: "You groomed boys and contrived situations when you could abuse them

"Yours is some of the most corrupting behaviour I have ever heard of in these courts."

He added: "Your depraved conduct towards innocent children has blighted their lives."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-46109874

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