A former Chief Crown Prosecutor has criticised Cheshire Police for dismissing a case against paedophile Barry Bennell years before the abuse scandal that revealed the true extent of his crimes against young footballers.
In 2013 David Lean accused Bennell of sexually abusing him as a child but was told charges would not be brought.
The reason given was that the former Crewe Alexandra coach had already served jail time and Mr Lean was the only new complainant.
But it has now emerged that after his first UK conviction in 1998 Bennell provided to Cheshire Police a list of other children he had abused, which was not used to support Mr Lean’s allegation.
He told talkSPORT: “I was left alone in 2013, which ripped my world apart if I’m honest. I went through absolute hell when I’d told them there could be hundreds [of victims].”
Without knowing a list of other victims existed Mr Lean successfully appealed the decision to drop his case. Bennell was charged and jailed in 2015.
A year later former Crewe Alexandra player Andy Woodward revealed he too had been abused by Bennell, prompting other survivors to come forward in a case that saw the paedophile given a 31 year prison sentence in 2018.
It was only after this that David Lean learnt of the list that could have supported his case five years previously, something he describes as a “scandal.
Cheshire Police told Mr Lean it would have been viewed as a fishing trip if they had re-contacted those on it and their evidence would have been inadmissable in court.
Nazir Afzal, former North West Chief Crown Prosecutor and national lead for child sex abuse cases, told talkSPORT: “I have no sympathy with that.
“All the old names should have been spoken to again to see whether or not they had any new information or more importantly whether they were prepared to give evidence against him [Bennell] this time.”
Cheshire Police has now privately apologised to Mr Lean for its failure to do this and for the distress the appeal process caused him.
In a public statement, it said: “This has always been an extremely difficult subject for victims to open up and speak about, and all those who have done so must be commended for their bravery in coming forward.”
Nazir Afzal added: “The same thing happened with Jimmy Saville.
“There were four people that made allegations against him while he was alive and the police did not tell any one of them there were others. So they felt that they were up against him on their own.”
In correspondence seen by talkSPORT, Cheshire Police explained to David Lean that Barry Bennell had been offered immunity from prosecution prior to revealing more of his victims’ identities during a prison interview.
Mr Afzal said: “That is something I would never recommend because you don’t know what you’re going to hear. They should not have given him that promise.”
He believes the handling of the case should be subject to an investigation.
David Lean insists case files must be re-opened across the country.
“This can’t be just a one-off. There are hundreds of sex offenders. There must be others that have been interviewed and coughed up names.
“What’s happening with those names? I believe this to be a huge issue.”