Abuse is never contained to a present moment, it lingers across a person’s lifetime and has pervasive long-term ramifications. A former football coach and youth worker has been found guilty of committing sexual offences against boys over a period of three decades.
David Hughes, a 66-year-old from south London, was convicted of 14 offences against four boys aged between eight and 15.
In a trial at Croydon Crown Court, he was found guilty of 10 counts of indecent assault, two counts of sexual activity with a boy aged 13 to 15, and two counts of causing the same boy to engage in sexual activity.
The first 10 offences took place between 1988 and 1995, when Hughes was employed as a youth worker in New Addington and worked as a voluntary football coach, the Metropolitan Police said. Further offences were committed in 2017 and 2018 independently of his employment.
On three occasions he had bought the boys football tops or football boots before assaulting them, according to Scotland Yard.
He groomed one boy by treating him to a trip to the cinema to see Jurassic Park in 1993, in addition to giving him attention and other gifts.
He indecently assaulted another boy while on an organised camping trip, the force said.
Upon his arrest in December 2018, Hughes, of King Henry’s Drive, had with him a black holdall with children’s underwear inside. More items of new underwear were found during a search of his address.
He was charged in February 2020 and was remanded in custody ahead of provisional sentencing on 25 November.
“In committing these offences Hughes demonstrated premeditated, predatory behaviour spanning almost 30 years,” said Detective Constable Dave Brewster, from the Met’s central specialist crime team.
“Hughes worked as a youth worker and children’s football coach in New Addington throughout the 1980s and 1990s, seeking employment and other opportunities that granted him access to children.
“He should have been someone the children, and their families, could trust. Hughes betrayed this trust, abusing vulnerable children who described feeling unable, ashamed and embarrassed to tell anyone what he had done to them.
“Those who suffered at the hands of Hughes in the 1990s describe how his offending continues to affect them today and say their reports to police in 2018 and 2019 were an important step in ‘moving on’ with their lives.
“It is only through the bravery of all of the victims in this case to report the abuse they suffered and support the police investigation that Hughes has been convicted of these offences.
“If you have been the victim of abuse, no matter how long ago, please report it to police so we can help you.”
Kids grow into adults and are often left to tackIe the effects of trauma on their own. When someone comes out, stop asking them why they waited. Or, call them a liar. Or, say they are crazy. Or, treat them like they are the abuser. Or, keep them ostracized as the outcast. These familial defense mechanisms only continue to add to the trauma and abuse.
We need to create a culture within our families where our children – and children turned adults – don’t feel so voiceless and unprotected when confiding in their truth.
It’s never too late to have these difficult conversations. Please have them.
