Brave Micky Fallon talks about being sexually abused aged 13 by Barry Bennell who showed 'zero remorse' in court

SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM MICKY FALLON SPEAKS OUT TO INSPIRE OTHERS

Former football coach Barry Bennell has been jailed for 31 years for 50 counts of child sexual abuse. And one of his victims Micky Fallon us to talk about the impact the terrible abuse has had on his life - and inspire others to speak out.

Micky has waived his right to anonymity and explained how the evil paedophile court behaved disgracefully in court as the victims gave evidence.

'Re-living the story wasn’t a pleasant one, I’ll be totally honest,' Micky told us. ''Actually seeing him in court for the first time, he appeared by video link for most of it, I got to see that man on Monday, I didn’t get to look him in the eyes, because he looked down at the floor. But that for me has been actually a really positive thing for me. For 33 years I’ve carried the man that you see in a lot of the press - the curly haired strong man. What I saw Monday was a very feeble weak man who’s going back to prison and hopefully spending the rest of his days there. So that’s helped me mentally.'

In an emotional interview, Micky revealed how difficult the abuser made it for his victims to give evidence saying, 'He absolutely showed zero remorse through the whole thing. When I gave evidence he appeared via video link on a screen – he laughed during my evidence. He laughed during most people’s evidence. That spurred me on giving my evidence to be honest. That for me was "You’re not going to beat me, you beat me 33 years ago there’s no way that’s going to beat me". Getting guilty verdicts was a great feeling of relief for all of us.'

Micky explained how he met the man when he was just a teenager.

'I was scouted by Barry Bennell playing for a Plymouth team. Me and another lad we both went up there. It just went from there really,' he said. 'I was then asked to stay, I stayed in Crewe until the age of 18. I stayed in his house from the age of 12-ish roughly to probably 15/16. Sometimes up to 10/12 [boys lived there].

'My parents back then believed I would be safe at a professional football club. This was where the professional football club put me to stay. My whole relationship with my parents since then has been a difficult one for them. Absolutely they do [feel guilty]. When I first agreed to speak out the first conversation I had was with my parents.'

Asked when the abuse started Micky explained: 'It was at Christmas, which is a difficult time really for me. It was Christmas Eve. His dog had bitten me in the face, there was four of us staying there. He used, rather than take me to hospital, he just used scare tactics all day. He wouldn’t get me any medical attention. He had a pet puma, I know that sounds really bizarre, but he really did have a pet puma that used to roam around the living room. He put on a scary horror movie in the evening, I was home sick… but that is really how he managed to get close to me really - come and have a cuddle, watching a horror film, scared. That’s how it first started.'

Of Barry sexually abusing him under a blanket Micky said, 'He did. It’s a weird one because in your mind you kind of go, "Did it happen, didn’t it happen?" and you know it did. Was it an accident? But it happened twice very quickly. First time I thought potentially it could have been an accident, the second time it clearly wasn’t an accident.'

'I’ve never told anybody in 32 years... Shame, guilt.'

Micky went to to say that wanting to be a footballer also played its part in him staying silent: 'Part of his whole grooming process really was that he was my key to achieving my dream as a 13-year-old boy. I was going to be a professional football player, it’s all I ever wanted to do. Part of me was a bit like, this is what I have to go through to be able to achieve that.'

'Both my parents wish they could have turned the clock back. If they knew now what [was happening] back then, I certainly wouldn’t never have gone on that first train to Crewe.'

Watch the video to see the full interview with Micky.

Details of our Never Too Late To Tell campaign and helplines are available here.