Aston Villa Failed to Report Child Abuse | Bolt Burdon Kemp Aston Villa Failed to Report Child Abuse | Bolt Burdon Kemp

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Aston Villa Failed to Report Child Abuse

As part of the ongoing investigation in to abuse within football clubs at all levels it has been reported that Aston Villa failed to report allegations of sexual abuse.

It is alleged that Aston Villa were aware of allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of club scout, Edward (also known as Ted) Langford, in the late 1980s but failed to report the abuse to the police.

Langford who had jobs at Aston Villa, Dunlop Terriers and Leicester City has been convicted of child abuse dating from the 1970s.

Tony Brien confirmed this week that he reported abuse at the hands of Langton to the club but that senior figures pressed him to not report the abuse to the police. Following several incidents of abuse, Mr Brien felt able to stand up to Langton and demanded the abuse stop.

The abuse did cease but Langford started to ignore Mr Brien and give others in the team preferential treatment. This is not a surprise given that this is classic behaviour of abuse at the hands of sports’ coaches that we have heard from our clients.

Mr Brien stated that he felt he could not report the abuse to the police as he feared adverse reactions from the terraces. However with the advent of other, high profile individuals disclosing the abuse they have suffered he has felt able to speak out against Aston Villa.

Aston Villa have denied advising Mr Brien to refrain from approaching the police.

I am a Senior Solicitor at Bolt Burdon Kemp specialising in Child Abuse claims. If you think you may have a claim, contact me free of charge and in confidence on 020 7288 4886 or at SiobhanCrawford@boltburdonkemp.co.uk for specialist legal advice. Alternatively, you can complete this form and one of the solicitors in the Child Abuse team will contact you. You can find out more about the team here.

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