PAEDO football coach Barry Bennell died in “significant pain” in prison after being diagnosed with tonsil cancer, an inquest heard today.
The predator died at HMP Littlehey in Cambridgeshire where he was serving a 34-year sentence for abusing young boys.
An inquest heard how Bennell, 69, was receiving palliative care after he was diagnosed with tonsil cancer last year.
The paedo had previously suffered from throat cancer in 2004, which had resurfaced in 2016.
At the time of his death on September 16, Bennell was being fed with a tube and could only communicate through writing.
Cambridgeshire’s area coroner Elizabeth Gray said he was in a “significant amount of pain which was managed by the healthcare team at the prison”.
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He had discharged himself back to prison from Hinchingbrooke Hospital against medical advice two days before his death.
A post mortem found he died from bilateral bronchopneumonia , with his tonsil cancer given as a contributing factor.
The hearing was told Bennell had previously tried to kill himself and was found with opiates in his possession.
A report from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman concluded the care Bennell received was of a “good standard and equivalent to that he would have received in the wider community”.
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Police found no signs of third party involvement, the inquest was told.
The coroner said: “I’m satisfied the conclusion for Mr Jones is he died as a result of natural causes.”
Bennell was jailed in 2018 after after being convicted of 52 child sex offences against 12 victims.
The former Crewe Alexandra coach and Manchester City scout was found to have been responsible for “industrial sexual abuse of boys”.
It is feared more than 100 boys were attacked by the child sex beast.
Bennell abused his position by targeting youngsters who dreamt of becoming professional footballers.
The coach would lure the boys to his home with exotic pets including a puma and a monkey, and took them on trips away.
He was first jailed in Florida in 1994 for raping a British boy on a football tour in America.
The coach’s horrific abuse in the UK was brought to light in a Channel 4 Dispatches investigation.
This led to further prison sentences in the UK in 1998, 2015, 2018 and 2020.
Bennell’s sickening crimes
1994
The coach was jailed for four years for abusing a a 13-year-old boy while on tour with a Staffordshire youth team in Florida.
1998
Bennell pleaded guilty to 23 counts of sexual abuse of 15 boys aged between nine and 14. He was jailed for nine years for the crimes, which took place between 1978 and 1992.
2015
Bennell admitted sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in 1980 and is jailed for two years.
2016
Brave footballer Andy Woodward revealed he had been groomed and abused by Bennell for four years, starting when he was just 11.
2018
The paedo was jailed for 30 years in 2018 after being convicted of 52 child sexual offences against 12 boys between 1979 and 1991.
It is revealed Bennell may have more than 100 victims after a further 86 complainants come forward.
2020
The coach is sentenced to serve an additional four years after pleading guilty to three counts of buggery and six counts of indecent assault against two boys between 1979 and 1988.
Brave footballer Andy Woodward waived his anonymity to reveal he was a victim – causing more complainants to come forward.
After his 2018 conviction, more than 80 other alleged victims came forward to claim they had been abused by Bennell.
Sentencing, Judge Clement Goldstone QC branded Bennell the “devil incarnate”.
He added: “Your behaviour towards these boys in grooming and seducing them before subjecting them to, in some cases, the most serious, degrading and humiliating abuse was sheer evil.”
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Bennell was locked up for a further four years in 2020 after admitting nine sexual offences, including six counts of indecent assault against two boys.
During his time in prison, it emerged he was being treated for cancer and had two operations to remove tumours from his tongue.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
