The best friend of Celtic Boys’ Club victim Andrew Gray has demanded the SFA apologise after its child abuse report claimed his dad ignored fears he was being molested.
Tragic Andrew was abused by team founder Jim Torbett while he was a schoolboy and contacted police in 2016.
But the 41-year-old died in a swimming pool accident after travelling to Perth, Australia, to visit Iain Kerr, who emigrated there from Glasgow.
Iain gave evidence to the Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football panel on Andrew’s behalf.
The Scottish Football Association-commissioned report was published this month and included accounts from 33 young players describing their abuse, including rape, in cases stretching back to the 70s.
But the report left Andrew’s family devastated as it contained a claim that his late father, Andrew Sr, had “pushed his concerns to the back of his mind” so his son could become a professional footballer.
Iain, 44, has demanded the authors of the 192-page review say sorry to Andrew’s loved ones.
The mechanic, who left Scotland in 2013, said: “The panel behind this report owe Andrew’s family an apology for what was written.
"I couldn’t believe it when I read it.
“I know if Andy’s dad had known anything about what Torbett was doing, he would have spent his last years in a prison cell.
“He wasn’t even that enamoured about his son spending so much time at football and told me he would have preferred that Andrew just stuck in at school.
“What was written is categorically not true and has done nothing but add to the heartache of Andrew’s friends and family.
“Andrew was let down at the time of the abuse and now, after everything, I feel he has been let down again by this report.”
Last week, we told how Andrew’s sister Michelle, 45, said the report had “broken her heart”.
Andrew’s testimony from beyond the grave helped convict Torbett, 73.
He was jailed for six years in November 2018 for abusing three boys over an eight-year period.
In statements to prosecutors before his death, Andrew said he had been abused in Torbett’s car after training and at the pervert’s Glasgow flat.
Jurors heard Torbett would drop him from the team when the then teenager did not agree to his demands.
In the report, Martin Henry, chair of the review panel and former boss of abuse prevention charity Stop It Now!, described the impact on victims as “lifelong, frequently serious and sometimes catastrophic”.
The abusers – who weren’t named in the review, –worked at senior clubs including Celtic, Falkirk, Hamilton Academical, Hibs, Motherwell, Rangers and Partick Thistle.
The SFA said they could not comment due to the report being independent.
The Independent Review of Sexual Abuse in Scottish Football team declined to comment.
