Manchester City launch child sexual abuse compensation scheme for victims of 'evil' Milton Keynes paedophile football coach Barry Bennell

According to the likes of The Telegraph, the Premier League champions have launched a “survivors’ scheme” for the victims of Bennell and another paedophile, John Broome, who was also involved with the club’s youth set-up.

Last year Bennell lost an appeal against a 30-year prison sentence for multiple child sex offences. Three Court of Appeal judges ruled in June 2018 that the length of his jail term for multiple offences against boys he coached was not excessive.

The 64-year-old former Crewe Alexandra coach and Manchester City coach and scout lived in Milton Keynes under the name Richard Jones until his arrest. He was sentenced last February for 52 offences committed against 12 boys he coached between 1979 and 1991.

The Court of Appeal judges said that because of the “huge scale” of his offending it would be wrong for them to reduce with the sentence. During his original six-week trial, Bennell was said to have committed “industrial scale” levels of abuse against vulnerable young boys in his care.

The move by Manchester City to launch a victim's fund is expected to lead to the reigning Premier League champions offering compensation packages that could total several million pounds and an apology to the players who were sexually abused during their time at the club.

The scheme, which is the first of its kind to be set up by one of the club’s implicated in the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked football, was announced by City on Tuesday morning.

City launched an independent QC led inquiry in November 2016 into Bennell’s connections with the club and how the former youth coach - described as “the devil incarnate” by a judge - was able to exploit a prominent role to abuse boys as young as eight.