Scots football coach caged for raping boy and sexually abusing others during reign of terror

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An ex-football coach is who inflicted a 19-year reign of sexual terror over boys, including the rape of a young player, was jailed on Thursday for nine years.Russell Conn, who managed teams for over 26 years in Ayrshire, targeted teenagers when they were alone.

The 59-year-old “groomed and abused” three boys between 1995 and 2014, leaving them “deeply damaged”.Conn, who also worked as a delivery driver and a painter and decorator, abused two of the boys in his work vans.

The court heard he earned their trust and had sexual conversations with them before the attacks.The jury was told he was guilty of “the grooming and manipulation and sexual abuse of teenage boys” and would often give victims money as well as cigarettes.Conn denied he’d done anything wrong.

But, a jury unanimously convicted him of one charge of rape and four of sexual assault.Judge Andrew Cubie told him at the High Court in Glasgow: “You were convicted of charges which was deliberate, calculated sexual abuse of three young men.“Their evidence was powerful about their shame, experiences and effect it had on them.