Paul McCann, formerly Barry Bennell’s assistant at Crewe Alexandra, has been cleared of four specimen charges of indecent assault after being accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a teenager during his time with the club.
McCann, 57, who was the assistant youth-team coach at Gresty Road, had been charged with molesting a boy over a two- or three-year period after positioning himself as a father figure for the teenager during late 1980s.
A jury at Chester crown court delivered four not-guilty verdicts after an eight-day trial that heard the boy, now in his mid-40s, had decided to report McCann to the police after the publicity surrounding the Bennell case, sparked by Andy Woodward’s interview with the Guardian. Woodward waived his anonymity to reveal he was one of Bennell’s victims.
Bennell, described as a child abuser “on an industrial scale”, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in February after being convicted of raping and molesting boys from the youth systems of Crewe and Manchester City.
