Ex-Crewe youth coach's 'interest in boy innocent'
A former Crewe Alexandra FC youth coach accused of indecent assault told police his interest in a teenage boy was "innocent".
Paul McCann said he became a "surrogate father" to the boy, who had a difficult home life, "spoiling" him by paying for holidays and taking him on football tours, a court heard. Mr McCann, 57, denies six counts of indecent assault between 1987 and 1990. He said the child's mother saw him "as a genuinely nice person". Mr McCann, of Great Sutton, Cheshire, is accused of grooming the boy to sexually abuse him, Chester Crown Court heard. The defendant worked as a part-time youth coach for the under-16s team and is accused of regularly abusing the boy, first on a skiing trip, then at his home in Crewe and after games at a local squash club. Mr McCann told detectives the family were "on their uppers" and had fallen on "hard times", so he agreed to take the child on a skiing holiday with the agreement of his mother. He said: "She saw me as somebody, as a genuinely nice person to help out." Police asked if it was "normal" that a man, then in his mid 20s, should go on holiday with a 15-year-old boy alone, six months after meeting him. Mr McCann replied: "It was innocent. It never crossed my mind. I was like a friend of the family. I took a bit of pity, they looked like they needed help." He told police no sexual activity took place. Mr McCann said while the boy was "not a shrinking violet", he was not good enough for the youth team and was only used as a substitute. He told police: "I did not hold his career in my hand or anything." The trial continues.