350 Victims Report UK Child Sex Abuse
About 350 victims have reported child sexual abuse within UK football clubs, police chiefs have said.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said a “significant number of calls” were made to forces after several former players made allegations of abuse against coaches.
Its figures are also based on details from existing investigations as well as referrals from a new NSPCC helpline.
Warwickshire Police announced it is the 16th force to be investigating claims.
The Metropolitan, Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire, Scotland and Cheshire forces are among the others to confirm they are looking into allegations of historical child sex abuse in football.
Meanwhile, the NSPCC says more than 860 people have called its dedicated football hotline, set up a week ago.
Within the first three days of it launching, the charity made more than 60 referrals to a range of agencies across the UK.
That was more than three times as many referrals as in the first three days of the Jimmy Savile scandal, the charity added.
The phone line is available 24 hours a day on 0800 023 2642.
Courtesy: BBC.com
