Chronicle EditorLONDON. – English Premiership soccer club Chelsea sanctioned a secret payment to a former youth team footballer who accused the club’s ex-chief scout of child sexual abuse, The Telegraph can disclose.The alleged victim was paid off after threatening to go public with claims he was sexually assaulted in the 1970s by Eddie Heath, Chelsea’s influential chief scout for more than a decade. The payment, made in the past three years, was agreed on condition that the victim, his family and lawyers were banned from talking about the alleged abuse.
The confidentiality agreement is so stringent, the parties involved in the case are not even allowed to acknowledge its existence. But after being approached by The Telegraph, which first disclosed that a payment had been made by a Premier League side, Chelsea issued a statement on Tuesday night confirming it had “retained” an outside law firm to carry out a full investigation concerning an individual employed by the club in the 1970s, who is now deceased.
The club, owned by the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, did not deny the claim that they had paid Heath’s accuser and settled the case. It is not known at what level the payment was authorised. – The Telegraph.
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