Bob Higgins has received such a heavy sentence that it could mean he will never see daylight as a free man again, not that some of his victims will be complaining.

Bob Higgins has received a jail sentence of 24 years and 3 months, a stretch that would see him over the age of 90 should he serve the full term and appeared to show no remorse for his actions. not only throughout the trial but after sentence was passed

The 66-year-old, who ran the youth training programmes at Southampton and Peterborough football clubs, was found guilty of 46 counts of indecent assault against a total of 24 teenage boys between 1971 and 1996.

Amazingly when he was exposed and sacked at Southampton, Higgins carried on his antics when he joined Peterborough, Saints can be excused for Higgins behaviour, in that the moment that it came to their attention when Dave Merrington overheard a conversation between a group of what were then called apprentices, they dealt with it and sacked Higgins, however Peterborough would have been well aware of the accusations and the subsequent trial in 1990 when Higgins was cleared.

Sentencing Higgins at Winchester Crown Court, Judge Peter Crabtree said he was "predatory, cunning and manipulative" and used sexualised behaviour to "normalise" the abuse he carried out.

As well as the prison sentence, Higgins was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register and was also banned from working with children and made subject to a supervision order on his release.

The judge told him:

"A number of the boys idolised you and were prepared, and did, anything to further their dreams of becoming a professional footballer."

Judge Crabtree added that Higgins "carefully groomed" the boys by giving them gifts such as football shirts signed by professional players and trips to football matches.

"You encouraged many of them to treat you as a father figure. For a number of boys who were brought up without a father and were vulnerable, this had a profound effect."

Praising the victims for their "courage and fortitude", the judge told Higgins: "The only person who should feel shame and guilt is you", adding: "You show not one jot of remorse."

Higgins will not be automatically paroled after serving half of his sentence but will have to apply for it when he becomes eligible and be reviewed by a parole board who will determine whether he can be released depending upon a number of circumstances including his behaviour in prison, what he intends to do when he leaves prison and Victims impact statements where victims can petition the parole board for him to stay in prison due to the detrimental effect he has had and indeed continues to have on their lives.

If Higgins gets out with only half of his sentence completed then he will be around 78/79 years of age , should he serve much more than that sentence then there is a good chance that he will die in prison.

Photo: Action Images

Colburn added 14:56 - Jun 12 About bloody time.. Bastard
1

SaintBrock added 15:48 - Jun 12 Let's hope this case is not the tip of an iceberg. Any institution involved with children and young people needs to be on constant alert, predatory animals like Higgins are very cunning at concealment. It is not enough for an institution enough to say we have safeguard systems in place without constant rigorous enquiry and liaison with the potential victims. Looking back, my scout leader always had a dodgy manner about him...

0

codge added 15:59 - Jun 12 Never enough time fo people of his ilk but just maybe he'll get his just deserts in prison.
0

lemmsy added 17:04 - Jun 12 When these disgusting offences took place there was less exposure & victims were manipulated to feel shame.Although Southampton football club were not to blame but they MUST act responsibly & sympathetically.The vile creature called Higgins should be shameful & I hope he rots injail & misery.
0

SaintBrock added 10:51 - Jun 14 I disagree lemmsy, SFC must shoulder a good part of the blame, this person was an employee of the club and should have been thoroughly vetted before he was recruited. Saying that it was a different era is no excuse whatsoever for not having proper safeguards in place for your people.. For heaven's sakes, my kids are far from being young now but when they were we as parents were acutely aware of the latent and hidden dangers that lurked in any organisation entrusted in looking after your kids when you could not and I mean schools, churches and clubs. If we felt anything or anybody was in the least bit awry or dodgy we would take action. As I said above this type of abuse is almost certainly going on elsewhere in many places right now, the jailing of Higgins is not the end of the matter by any means; all you parents should be constantly vigilant of such threats to your kids.

1

AlicMow added 06:06 - Mar 16 Forum has some features on it this was about the pool of blogs that were available at this it has some option to choose on. You need to participate in it you have to visit http://topbritishwriters.com/oxbridge-essays-review/ this belonged to them or it has some sentences along with the data and terms of voting on it.
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls