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.