A victim of paedophile football coach Barry Bennell has secured a five-figure settlement from the former owners of Butlin’s after he was groomed while Bennell worked at a holiday park.
David Lean, 53, first encountered the child predator when he visited the company’s resort in Pwllheli, north-west Wales, in 1979.
Mr Lean, who was 11 at the time, said Bennell ‘worked his charm’ on him and his father, so after a week-long holiday they exchanged addresses, became pen pals and returned for another trip later in the year.
Bennell, 67, who is now serving a 34-year prison sentence after being convicted of dozens of sexual offences against young boys, went on to invite Mr Lean to stay at his home for two nights to attend an FA-endorsed training session.
While staying at his house, Mr Lean was sexually abused by the coach.
David Lean, 53, has secured a five-figure settlement from the former owners of Butlin’s after he was groomed by paedophile Barry Bennell in 1979
Notorious paedophile Barry Bennell (pictured) has been convicted on five occasions over dozens of counts of sexual abuse against young boys while working as a football coach between the 1970s and 1990s
Bennell was jailed two years in 2015 for abusing Mr Lean but a civil case was brought on the victim’s behalf by law firm Slater and Gordon against Hard Rock Cafe (Edinburgh) Limited, formerly known as Butlin’s Limited, which alleged the company was vicariously responsible for the abuse.
Mr Lean said: ‘I have fought for many years to seek justice for what happened to me as a child by that monster.
‘It also became extremely important to me to ensure that all those who had a part to play in making it possible for Bennell to perpetrate his abuse on young boys should also be held to account.
‘Lessons must be learnt to prevent the abuse of further generations; nobody should have the right to turn a blind eye and not face the consequences.
‘While my sexual abuse never took place at Butlin’s, they gave my abuser the gateway to groom both myself and my parents into later access of me when I was abused. ‘
Bennell’s abuse went on for two decades until a boy accused him of sexual assault in 1994
Kim Harrison, lead lawyer for Mr Lean, said she was ‘delighted’ to have secured a five-figure settlement for him.
She said: ‘Barry Bennell was a prolific paedophile who used his position at Butlin’s to groom and then go on to abuse our client.’
Rank Group, owners of Hard Rock Cafe (Edinburgh) Ltd, have been approached for comment.
Bennell took advantage of his role as a football coach to abuse young boys from the 1970s onwards. After spells working for Manchester City, Crewe, Stoke City and Leeds United, he joined Staffordshire team Stone Dominoes as head coach in 1992.
It was while at the Stone Dominoes that Bennell’s offending first came to public attention, when a 13-year-old player accused him of sexual abuse during a United States tour in 1994.
Bennell was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida, and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to six charges of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious behaviour.
Bennell did not serve his full sentence, but he was immediately arrested upon his return to England following sexual abuse revelations made in a 1996 Dispatches documentary.
He was charged a string of sexual assaults and counts of buggery against boys aged nine to 15. It led to a trial at Chester Crown Court in 1998, where Bennell was convicted of 23 offences against six boys and received a nine-year jail sentence.
Pictured: Barry Bennell in an American court in 1995, where he pleaded guilty to six sexual battery charges
Some 22 other charges were left on file, as the CPS opted not to put victims through the trauma of giving evidence at a trial.
But Bennell’s story did not end there. In 2015, by then living in Milton Keynes and calling himself Richard Jones, he was arrested again for his abuse of Mr Lean and given a two year sentence.
in 2016 and 2017, more historic offences against young boys came to light – culminating in a trial at Liverpool Crown Court in January 2018.
From the outset, Bennell pleaded guilty to seven charges against young boys between 1981 and 1985, but a jury found him guilty of 43 further offences. On February 19, 2018, he was jailed for 31 years for all 50 offences against young boys, expected to serve half in prison and half on licence.
Pictured: Bennell while he was a football coach in 1980s, during the peak of his offending
Eight men, all in the 40s and 50s, launched a civil claim in October against Manchester City after saying Bennell abused them
But even then, more evidence of Bennell’s prolific sexual abuse against young boys continued to emerge.
In July 2020, Bennell pleaded guilty at Chester Crown Court to nine further offences committed between 1979 and 1988 and was sentenced to an additional four years – bringing his total sentence to 34 years.
In October last year, it was revealed that eight men, now in their 40s and 50s, were taking legal action against Manchester City while claiming Bennell abused them when they were playing youth football more than 30 years ago. Manchester City denied Bennell was an employee at the time of the alleged abuse.